The Betrayal of Light: Prequel
by Cole Pascal
Summary: A prequel using the template characters for my lvl 5-10 campaign, Betrayal of Light, starring characters based on Andrew "Anrier" WK Half-elf Bard/Artificer, Sammi "Sanra" Hanratty Gnome Cleric, Meg "Meg" Myers human paladin, Nicky "Niela" Whelan half-Eladrin Warlock, and McKayla "M'karo" Maroney feysomething thief. It shows their solo adventures pre-group and how they meet.
1. Chapter 1

Dramatis personae(pulled from the PDF of the beta copy of the Campaign, some facts don't match and some data missing due to time differences):

 **Megani Ogrecrusher:**

Youngest daughter of five, all other daughters followed in your mother's footsteps and became clerics and healers, following her in to the Sisterhood of Rose's Roses. You chose differently. Always your father's favorite, you often helped him clean his armor and weapons as a small child and followed along with his devotions as a Paladin. When you became large enough to swing a sword, you begged him to allow you to take up the training of a Paladin.

He brought in his most trusted friend and you began your path to the hammer.  
As the years passed, you became greater and greater in the skills as well as more prideful. Seeing that this might cause you to fail, your teacher sent you out to face a dark creature harassing a nearby settlement.

When you returned, you were near death and had learned some humility. You also returned with ten marilith heads and the armored corpse of a dark paladin on your pack horse.  
When you were fully healed your father informed you that you were now a recognized sister of his order and had been elected to take his place as the Mayoress of their village, Meg's Woods when he retires in a decade.

You have great feelings for the warlock in the party but believe she despises you do to all the strife and your classes treatment of her kind. Nonetheless, you plan to tell her your feelings. Someday.

Named your war pony Curbstomp. Not available during this module.

 **Sanra Tealeaf** :

An orphan, you were found as a toddler near a hamlet of humans. You were raised by a pair of Halfling clerics and grew up playing with PALADIN.

You two are very close friends though in the past had a falling out when she tried to stop you walking out with a local villager.

You believed she wanted him for herself and didn't believe the warning she tried to give you without saying anything.  
In the end you found out he was only interested in you due to your small size and were forced to kill him to protect yourself from being sexually assaulted.

When you asked PALADIN why she didn't just tell you why, she informed you that she was under a compulsion not to tell about the many conflicts her father has mediated as the Mayor of Meg's Woods.

When PALADIN decided to go out to prove her worth, you instantly offered to come along and she picked you up, swinging you around as she accepted it. You gave her a hot foot instantly for the affront to your dignity then hugged her as you healed the injury.  
You find yourself quite attracted to BARD but are leery due to your last attempt to walk out with someone larger than you.

Like your closest friend and the majority of those in your village, you align yourself with Corellon.

 **Anrier:**

You're the life of the party in every sense of the word. When you're not creating music to build up your allies' attacks, you're creating constructs from your mind to go into battle for you.  
For most of your life you were trained to all the instruments but recently, you were seduced in to a new love, artificing. Creating your own musicians became a passion and you took up adventuring so you could afford to build what you see as the next wave, musical artifices that can play as soulfully as a sophont.

As you travel, you seek out new songs and new instruments while trying to learn all you can from other artificers.  
You joined this party only recently, mostly because of all the females but also because the GNOME gifted you with a ring after hearing you play and you found it to be the perfect host device for spells due to the intricate design. GNOME has promised to introduce you to the goldsmith and had written you a letter of introduction but decided joining them could help you gain a little extra gold before continuing on.

 **Niela:**

You are the youngest child of Quiarel, a much respected bralani but you're a bastard child, birthed on an Eladrin woman of such low repute due to her fiend-touched blood your father will not acknowledge you or your mother save for tossing her the odd coin after a visit.

Embittered by this, you refused to become a cleric like your many half-siblings and left the city of your birth to see what the world of shorter-lived creatures had for you.  
Taken in by a group of Warlocks that sensed your potential, they trained and introduced you to many fey beings.  
You mostly kept to the chaotic good creatures of power and made many deals over the years as you learned more and more until you felt you were truly ready to face what may come. Inducted in to the Sisterhood of the Wolves, you joined a small group of female warlocks that aim to create a new plane of existence for warlocks only.  
While at the beginning you made most of your pacts with Correlon aligned fey beings, you've found yourself working with a star pact more often.  
You find yourself attracted to the female paladin you travel with, a class of adventurers you've long hated for their treatment of warlocks, as well as not understanding how you could find another female so attractive. This causes great strife in minor matters of the group, especially when you've found yourself staring at her in those moments of quiet, admiring the whiteness of her skin and the curve of her frame when she wears something other than her well fitting but figure disguising armor.

 **M'karo:**

You were born to the purple. The only daughter of the only child of the human grandmaster of the Black Guards, you were trained to steal from the moment you could walk. The hopes of your whole family rests on you being the new grandmaster and your skills in thievery give them all great hope.

Before you were a teenager, you had already cleaned out the temple of the most egregious priest thieves and returned the majority of the money to the people, keeping a small finder's fee for yourself and the guild. Within the year, you'd done three more jobs for the guild, cleaning out two homes and returning a stolen ceremonial dagger.

Your finest job to date came to you on your fifteenth birthday. A temple to Corellon in a small village of Meg's Woods had had its statue desecrated, the petrified peanut wood eyes and a golden bow stolen from it.

You returned the eyes and the bow—though it had been damaged by the thieves—and received recognition from the mayor. And then she asked you to join them in their travels. At first you refused then remembered just how much treasure there was to be found in old temples forgotten by time.

Though still considered a toddler by your mother's side of your family, your father's side consider you a full Black Guard and thus an adult.  
Your beauty has caught the eye of a very powerful being.

* * *

 **A/N:**

The dramatis personae is in second person but the story is in third.

* * *

Little Meg followed her father in to the chapel, marveling at how the space drank up the sound of her father's armor as he moved.

He touched the hammer sitting in the alcove behind the altar then turned and smiled at her as she sat down on one of the cushions in front of where he stood.

She gave a little wave then began to copy his call to prayers.

It was hour three of her father's devotions when she felt a hand upon her head, waking her up.

She sat up, looking around sheepishly. She wondered how he had gotten back to his position so fast after waking her.

Little Meg hesitated then left the chapel. She didn't want to accidentally fall asleep again.

Outside the chapel she saw her elder sisters sitting in a circle, rolling bandages and she dashed over to help, smiling as they moved aside so she could sit amongst them.

"Did you fall asleep again?" her eldest sister teased. "Father will be annoyed."

"I didn't mean to," she protested. "It's so warm and the incense makes me sleepy!"

As they began talking about something else, they finished rolling bandages and hoops with broadcloth on them and began practicing their needlepoint.

Little Meg took the one handed to her and smiled. It only needed a few more loops before it was finished. She happily set to then saw her father leave the chapel. Her needlepoint hoop went flying in to the center of the circle as she stood and dashed after their father.

The girls watched her go, shared a laugh, then went back to work.

"You fell asleep," he said to her when she caught up.

"I'm sorry father. I woke up when you touched me though."

"I didn't," he told her, stopping to turn and look at her. "You felt something?"

She nodded nervously, afraid she was going to be punished for falling asleep.

He regarded his daughter then picked her up and kissed her cheek. "Perhaps it was Lady Maya then."

Little Meg smiled at that. "Truly?"

"Mayhap little one, mayhap."

She hugged him then he set her down and took her hand once she finished straightening her dress.

As they walked, she listened to him tell her a story.

PARABLE ABOUT FAITH

He let her down and Little Meg pushed the door open then rushed in to their home, her father following at a more sedate pace, stripping off his armor as he moved. His squire was collecting the armor and filling him in on the news he may not have heard.

He was down to just his cuisses and codpiece when his daughters' voice filled the house.

* * *

Little Meg went to the servants' wing and smiled at the cook. "Hi Sushi, what's for dinner?" she asked as she pulled herself up on a box so she could see the counter the woman was working at.

When she saw the orange fleshed fish on the counter, she gasped. "I-is that threscher?"

"Yes it is," Sushi said.

Meg jumped down off the box and went running to find her father or mother. She dashed past her sisters who were sitting in front of the fireplace, mixing something, then ran right in to her father.

She fell backwards and looked up at her father sheepishly.

"Don't run in the house!"

"I'm sorry daddy but I was just talking to Sushi and she's making threscher stew for dinner and it's me and Sanra's favorite meal and I want to invite her over for dinner please please please father?!"

he took a moment to understand just what she said then smiled as he leaned down to help her stand. "Go ask your mother. You may tell her that I'm fine with it. She's in the garden."

Little Meg took off again then slowed to a fast walk when her father called out, "STOP RUNNING!"

Outside, she took to running again, following the stone path that led around the gardens, entrusted to the elder women of the village to maintain. Those working in it said hello to her and she greet them in reply as she looked for her mother and grandmother.

Halfway around it, she realized they would most likely be in the center of the garden where the medicinal herbs grew.

Little Meg came to a stop and looked back the way she had come then the way she was headed, trying to decide if she should finish the loop or go back. Which way is shorter, she asked herself then decided to finish the loop, her mother might be on it.

She started skipping instead of running and finally completed the loop then headed deeper in to the garden. Little Meg moved in to the spiral that led to the shrines in the middle of the garden and stopped to pick a mintflower. She tucked it into her hair then continued on.

She found her mother and grandmother sitting on a bench, plaiting herbs into loops.

"Mama!" Little Meg said, stopping barely in time and knocking over a sack of herbs.

She bent down to put them back in the bag as her mother and grandmother smiled at her.

"What do you want little one?" her grandmother asked.

"Sushi is making threscher stew for dinner and father said it was okay to invite Sanra over for dinner and maybe she could spend the night too so we can go together to the festival as soon as we're ready?"

"If her parents say it's fine, yes," her mother said as her grandmother gestured her forward.

"Open your mouth."

Little Meg did as told and her grandmother popped something wrapped with a leaf in her mouth.

"Chew it quickly."

The sourness of the leaf made the young girl make a face but she bit in to it as told and her eyes went wide as the sweetness of whatever had been wrapped in the leaf overwhelmed the sour flavor then slowly melded together into a very pleasing medley of flavors on her tongue.

"Well?" her grandmother asked.

"It's so good!"

She handed the girl three more. "One more for you and two for Sanra."

"Ask one of your sisters to walk you over to Sanra's," her mother called out after she thanked them both then sprinted off.

* * *

Sanra opened the door and smiled at her friend. "Hi Meg. Hello Miya."

"If it's okay with your parents, we're having threscher stew tonight and here," she said, holding out the two candies for her. "They're really sour until you bite in to them. And if you can spend the night we can get a start on for the festival right away!"

Sanra nodded excitedly and turned around to find her adoptive mother—a halfling cleric—standing behind her. "Mama, can I have dinner with Meg's family and spend the night?"

"I heard. It's been okayed by your parents?" Miya nodded and Sanra's mother nodded.

Meg and Sanra rushed to the girl's partitioned off section of the small house and stuff some items in to a bag. Meg carried the bag and Sanra's wooden doll while Sanra carried her festival dress carefully.

At the house Little Meg led Sanra to the wing that the girls had their rooms in—the home of the mayor of the village was a gift to the major, not a permanent home—and Meg said, "Father helped me clean up this small storage room and now I have my own room!"

They set her clothes on top of the chest with Meg's clothing then Sanra noticed the wooden sword and picked it up. "You're weapon training now?"

"Not yet. Every morning I measure myself compared to that. When the blade can't touch my head at all with the pommel resting on the ground father says I'll be tall enough to train."

"Oooh. I cast a cure wound on a ghoul today."

"Did it die?" Meg asked excitedly.

Sanra nodded and excitedly explained how the ghoul had been subsumed by radiant flames and how the smell had made her so nauseous it had been an hour before she had been able to eat her midday meal.

Miya told them dinner was on and they joined the rest of the family and the servants at the dining table.

The girls watched as their father gave a blessing over the meal then asked Lady Maya to look over the villagers.

Sanra and Meg's plates were filled with stew first and they received the ends of the loaf of bread then their mother asked the girls how they had done with their duties for the day.

"Even without Little Meg's help, we got all the bandages rolled and finished the needlepoints for the quilts."

Meg felt a little guilty until their father said, "She's been touched by Lady Mala. Meg will be trained as a paladin beginning next week."

Sanra hugged her friend then they both dug in to the stew, sopping up the last of it with the bread. They each had a second plate then were excused and left the house, Meg's older sister Miya in tow again to make sure nothing happened to them.

She tried to get them to go somewhere else but they led her unerringly towards the deconsecrated grounds where ghouls kept rising. A corral had been built and the paladins and the clerics at the nearby monastery and abbey would come to practice offensive casting of spells on them. They had tried for over two decades to reconsecrate the ground then had given up and made the best of it after putting up ten foot high corrals to keep the mindless beasts within.

When they caught the attention of one of the ghouls, Sanra waited until it was at the fence then caste consecrated ground. It didn't work and Miya said, "Silly gnome, a consecration spell won't work. Try to cast healing light."

She showed the novice the correct hand movements and whispered the spell's component words.

Sanra tried it and the ghoul's head exploded off before it was consumed in flames, it's arms flung out as if it had been nailed to a wall in a T-shape.

Both of the young girls looked to Miya. "I didn't help out at all, I swear!"

Sanra and Meg began jumping up and down, yelling in their excitement at Sanra's successful cast.


	2. Chapter 2

M'karo slipped through the crowds, following her target.

She slipped past a guard then doubled back for a moment. Her hand slipped out and she pulled the key from his sash. She doubted it would ever be of use but humiliating a guard was always fun.

She tucked the key in to a bystander's belt then continued on.

She caught up to her target and her hand danced for a moment, undoing the lashed leather then a small purse fell in to her sewing basket.

M'Karo turned in to the small abbey and smiled at the abbess. "Hello Amber."

"Good morning Abbess. I have some silks to donate and I may have some gold, a man put a purse in the basket but I haven't checked it."

"Please, take them through."

M'Karo did as the woman asked and handed the silk filled basket to one of the sisters as she slipped the purse out surreptitiously.

She checked the purse and her eyes widened. It was filled with three dozen platinum discs, half again as many gold discs, and four blue gems each the size of the tip of her pinky, the facets scintillating in the light from the stained glass window and the candles.

She didn't know what her cut would be and decided to just put two of the platinum discs in the collection box and tucked the rest back in to the bandages that she used to hold her burgeoning breasts in place. She didn't like how her human half made her body develop faster than her elven mother had expected her to and binding them down made her feel a lot less self-conscious.

She slipped out of the back of the abbey and played her fingers over pebbles set in to a statue where the last lord of the city had been buried.

A secret door opened next to a grating for the old city's noble escape route and she entered the tunnels.

When she arrived back at the Golden Turtle—the inn her mother ran—she stopped to kiss her mother and asked, "Is father here?"

Her mother smiled and ruffled the girl's silvery-gold bangs. "No, he's at your grandfather's. Did you drop off those silks?"

She nodded then took out the purse. "Look! I took this off that pompous ambassador that never paid his bill last time."

Her mother took nine of the gold coins. "That covers his bill. And those look like star sapphires but your grandfather would know better. Run off and show him."

"Yes, mother."

She went downstairs to the storage area then back into the old tunnels.

Her night attuned vision let her see the way without needing lights and she tapped out her personal code then the day code.

The door opened and a smiling giant picked her up, squeezing her as he kissed her forehead.

The bristles of his beard made her laugh. "Lemme down uncle Eiko."

He did so as he asked "What've you been up to?"

"Trifled the ambassador who stiffed mother, pilfered a key from a guard, dropped off some silks, and I donated to the abbey."

"Good for you."

She pulled her hair back in to a ponytail then she found her father and grandfather having ales in front of the fireplace.

"Princess!"

Her grandfather did the same as Eiko had done and swung her up in a hug. Though she was already closer to six feet tall than she liked, her father and grandfather towered over her even in their bare feet. Rumor was that her great-great-great-grandfather had raped a giant to get his children in hopes of having the strongest sons possible.

When she was let go, she kissed her father hello then pulled a table close and poured her take out. "What's this worth?"

"Who did you take these off?" her grandfather asked as he took a small magnifying device out of his pocket. His day cover was as a goldsmith and his rings were legendary.

"That ambassador that didn't pay his bill."

Both of the males nodded thoughtfully, proud of her for getting the payment and damaging the man's ego some.

"These will fetch five thousand pieces easily and these platinum coins are worth a hundred pieces each." He looked thoughtful then said, "Even though you're not a full thief yet we'll give you full cut."

She brightened. "Can I buy my armor now?"

"Yes, but you're not getting it fitted yet," her father said.

"Why not?" she asked petulantly.

"because your mother thinks you're still growing," her grandfather said. "Now, let's see, your cut would be fifty nine hundred pieces and your armor will be forty eight hundred so the difference is eleven hundred." He pushed out six of the platinum pieces then pushed out one of the gems. "We'll make this in to a nice necklace for you and this will be divvied out on your allowance for the next year."

She nodded, somewhat annoyed then smiled when the serving girl for the Deep Tavern set a mug of mulled cider in front of her.

M'Karo took a slip then wiped the foam off her lip. "It's got those purple apples in it this time."

They smiled at that then their conversation went back to the job they had just been hired to do.

She wished she could do jobs then sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

Niela took the small orb out of her travel bag's top pocket and hefted it, wishing that tonight was the full moon. She pushed her will into it nonetheless and a wavering image of her home showed just long enough to tantalize before it faded due to distance.

She put the orb away and poured the last of her water on the fire, stirred it with a branch, then swept out the detritus and stepped out from under the boughs that had enclosed her. The tree seemed to be sad to see her go and she smiled then walked down to the nearby stream to refill her skin.

She cast one of the few cleric spells she was willing to do to make sure the water was pure then settled her pack on her shoulders and walked on, bundling her shoulder length silver hair up so it was no longer caught in her robe and pack. She sighed as she walked along, wondering what she was to do with her life, shaking the locks about her.

Niela thought about her savings and the gift from her mother, a pair of earrings and some jewelry worth a fair bit. In total, she had somewhere around six hundred gold pieces. More than enough to live on for quite some time.

But just living on what I have isn't enough, she thought.

"I'll take what you have in that pack," a voice said then a shape stepped out of the darkness.

Niela was startled then smiled as she raised her hands, her own face hidden by her hair.

"So be it," she told him and snapped her fingers. Three glowing green darts streaked through the air from above her, riddling the man's torso, killing him instantly. "There you go, mind those weren't from my pack," she told him as she leaned over and began looting him of everything of value. "They came from my mind but nonetheless I gave them to you."

Perhaps I could become a brigand, she ruminated on then laughed aloud as she kicked his corpse and continued on. Or a thief. Or a ranger. I always did like the woods. Though never too far into it, she thought after a moment.

* * *

Niela traded the brigand's coins for a room for a night and a young boy brought her bowl of vegetable stew. When she smiled at him in thanks, he blushed deeply.

She was debating what to do as she sopped up the last of the stew when an Eladrin with dark eyes and black hair sat down opposite her. "Hello young one."

"Hello elder," she replied. "Can I be of assistance?"

"I thought we might be of assistance. I saw how you dealt with that brigand. Would you be interested in learning the secrets of the universe?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow, come to our tent outside town." He stood. "You'll see."

Niela watched the elder go then turned at the cough. The boy was back and asked, "Would you care for another bowl miss?"

"Yes, please. Could you try to get some more mushrooms in it?"

He nodded, happy to please the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and when he returned it was filled with mushrooms with a thick slice of brown bread that had been fried resting on the corner of the square bowl. "I added some fried ones."

"Thank you," she told him and handed him two copper coins.

He thanked her and dashed off.

She went back to eating then took her half full flagon up to her room.

Inside, Niela closed the door and moved the only chair in front of it to make it impossible to open then sat on the bed and finished off the flagon.

Closing her eyes, she began to meditate, letting her mind expand until every movement in the inn was known to her, from the beating of the hearts of two people lying together, in synch with each other, something she found interesting to the young boy's heart.

She noticed his heart beat increase and she wondered at that then it began to slow down and she realized what was happening. She could feel her own cheeks begin to burn as blood rushed to them.

When morning came, her meditation ended and she undressed then used the pitcher and the basin to give herself a bath then filled the basin with more water and orange blossom water and rubbed herself down with it.

She rinsed her mouth out with the rest of the water then used the cleansing spell on her mouth and gagged. Niela finished off the rest of the water to get moisture in her mouth since the spell killed the bacteria in her mouth and dried it out. She spat the water on the floor and changed in to her purple robes.

She used her foot to mix in the wet rushes with the rest and smiled at the sweet scent. They replaced them often if the scent was this strong.

She packed away the rest of her clothes then left a coin on the dresser for the boy since she was sure he'd be the one to clean the room.

When she walked out she avoided the child's gaze, trying not to think about what he had been doing the night before.

Standing outside the tavern, she decided to stay in the small village for a few hours. They were having some sort of event.

As she walked along, she realized just what day it was. They were celebrating the return of the soldiers after the last great war, forty years before. All Soldier's Day.

Niela stopped to watch children reenacting the last battle of the war and smiled at the hamminess of the young girl playing the Eladrin hero.

When the girl stepped off the stage, Niela stepped up. "Play him up more. I've met him many times, he's a blowhard with the skills to back up his boasts."

The girl looked at her in surprise then smiled. "Really?"

"Yes. He's as much the great warrior as people believe and he's very willing to let you know everything he's done."

Niela continued on as the girl rushed over to tell her friends.

When she came to the booth where they were selling poppin replicas of the various heroes of the battles, she decided to pay two coppers for one of the dolls of a relative of hers.

She tucked it in to her bag then remembered the man from the night before. She hesitated then walked towards the area outside town to the north. Most human villages had their tent zones for strangers to the north in a well shielded area.

When she found the tents, she was right. The humans had build a windbreak of long poles with dozens of varieties of vines growing and berrying and blocking the strong winds of the area.

She found the tent, the elder Eladrin sitting outside it. He smiled as she approached, standing and holding the flaps aside.

Niela hesitated then stepped inside and was surprised to see an altar to Corellon Larethian, her family's patron god.

"Welcome child. I sensed you were seeking purpose. Perhaps we can be of assistance," an elderly Bralani female she had seen before when she was a child, advising her father on the rare visits to him.

"Honored matron," Niela replied, unsure of what else to say.

"Come and sit by me. Bring her a fur so I do not chill her." As elderly as she was, she could no longer completely control her form and radiated a chill and cold wind that caused the fire near her to jump away from her.

Wrapped in the fur, Niela listened to the woman and found herself nodding her head at the woman's words.


	4. Chapter 4

M'Karo slipped off the trousers she had been wearing and stood somewhat self-consciously as an elder thief took out some lengths or rope.

"Calm yourself lass, you're beautiful but you're not my type," Madi teased the girl who couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"It's cold."

"I'll be done soon enough," she told M'Karo, using the lengths of rope to measure the girl, knotting it in various styles, signifying just what each rope meant to the armor's design.

"Do you want the color treatment or the standard design?"

"The deluxe," M'Karo said and the woman's eyes went wide. "Another five hundred pieces you know, right?"

M'Karo nodded. "I know."

"Did your grandfather say you could?" The color treatment was usually reserved for those who had reached a high rank in the guild but could be done by anyone in the guild who had stolen more than fifty thousand in one go. M'Karo had done that only the night before. For the fourth time.

"Yes."

She made a heart shaped knot then told M'Karo to dress. "Such firm breasts and thin waists are wasted on youth," she muttered teasingly and M'Karo flushed brightly. She still bound her breasts but now did it to create the look of deep cleavage as well as hold them down for her more acrobatic maneuvers.

"Do you want me to design the armor to show your cleavage, protect, or either as you choose? The third will compromise a bit but some extra boiled leather with lamellar can add some more strength."

"The third. I've got a design for the lamellar strips," she replied, somewhat shyly. She took out the design from her satchel and showed the woman then went back to dressing.

"Ah, lovely. No one shall suspect you're a thief with that design." It was the mark of Corellon Larethian and crossed fife and pan pipes. "Why him though?"

"Mother was a bard and this was her old symbol from her trainer."

She nodded and walked off as M'Karo pulled her tunic on and buttoned it up then walked out to the tavern and found her father sitting in front of the fire, examining a pile of gems. "Morning father."

"Sit. Tell me what you think of that orange gem?"

She held it up to the fire and blinked a few times. "Two occlusions. It needs to be recut."

"Worth?"

"Nine thousand now, ten when recut, set in a ninety piece chain, eleven thousand easily."

"Good girl," he said and pulled her over to kiss her quicklime-straightened hair. "I preferred the curls."

She rolled her eyes. Her curly silver-gold hair and a heavily made up look of hers was wanted in the Kelanon province. She had straightened and colored her hair to orange with black streaks, a look she quite liked. It reminded her of the Kelanon sabertooth, a large feline she had had a stuffed fetish of as a child that had been lost in a move.

"Still trying to find out who to bribe there. It'd be easier if we setup an outpost there."

"Our last two were killed, we'll figure out who did that, get revenge, then go back."

She pouted then put the gem back and went to get a mulled wine.

When she returned to the table, two of the novice thieves were waiting for her father's words. Finally, he set the final gem down and said, "You two were fighting in public and revealed your membership. You're to be sent to the Northern Province. Pack your gear, you leave tomorrow morning."

They looked like they wanted to argue but didn't. Instead they walked off, looking dejected.

He turned to his daughter and took a ticket from his pocket. "An invitation to Lady Salazar's. Case the place."

She grinned excitedly and took the invite then ran off to look through the fancy clothing she owned.

When she found nothing good for the season, she opened the hidden chest in her fireplace and found she had five hundred pieces of gold. M'Karo tucked them in to a purse and shoved it down her trousers then headed out.

At the best dressmaker in the town, she looked through the fabrics then turned and smiled at the owner. "Hello Kiora. Do you have anything in my size that'll look good at Lady Salazar's midseason party? I was invited and I don't really have anything."

Kiora held up her finger then turned around and opened a wardrobe behind her counter. She turned, holding a black brocade gown with a red and black corset design over a white brocade blouse, the skirt slit to almost the thigh. "You really think I'd look good in that?"

Kiora smiled brightly and nodded rapidly. She wasn't mute but rarely spoke.

"I'll try it on."

M'Karo undressed then Kiora helped her put it on, blowing on M'Karo's neck to tease her.

Dressed, M'Karo spun in it, feeling incredibly beautiful as she looked at herself. The color didn't really match her hair but she decided to use dye to darken her hair and 'borrow' a magic amulet to change eye color and the sharpness of her cheekbones.

"How much aunty?"

"For you? Ten pieces. The woman who ordered it passed away after paying for the material and labor." She turned around and took out a band of ivory with a black gem that gleamed red. "I'll lend you this." Kiora knew M'Karo was a thief, she had trained the girl but Kiora had left the order after her mother passed away and she was needed in the shop.

M'Karo changed her clothing back to her street clothes as Kiora packaged the gown and the band.

M'Karo left the money on the counter and hugged her friend again then left for her home, stopping to buy some kohl, rouge, and some powdered pearls in a faintly red lacquer. Her mother had taught her to use makeup but she rarely ever did due to not needing it.

When she arrived at the publicfront tavern, she found her mother standing behind the counter, slicing some bread. "Ahh, dear, where've you been?"

"I was with father then I went shopping for a dress, I'm going to a party."

"Ah, tonight?"

"No."

"Good, I need you to watch the inn, your father wants to walk out with me."

M'Karo grinned. "Aren't you two kinda old for that."

"I'll cut out that tongue little snip!" her mother teased back.

M'Karo kissed her mother's cheek then carried her items to her room then came back and took her mother's place.

As soon as her mother was gone, one of the patrons tried to flirt with her. M'Karo eyed him for a moment then rapidly flicked her wrists, making a pair of daggers jet downwards. She spun them and asked, "What did you need?"

"Another ale please!"

She pulled one for him and smiled as he went off to nurse it until the bad air left it and it was drinkable.

Two friends from the village came in and sat down at the counter. "Hi M'Karo," Amika said. "You're watching the tavern tonight? We were gonna invite you to the fight."

"I am. Who's fighting?"

"Dunno, I think they're owlbear-baiting tonight."

M'Karo shrugged. "Boring. Anything new?"

"Sarina and Dexon are pairbonding tomorrow."

"Really? They only walked out twice."

She set out three wood flagons and poured her favorite wine then took a muller from the fireplace and dipped it in a golden powder. It caramelized on the iron then she put it in Amika's flagon to heat and flavor the wine. She did the same for Oli's wine then did hers and they ended up spending the evening chatting, occasionally breaking up so she could service customers or take their pay or make change for the handful of escorts that plied their trade in the tavern.

"Have you ever for money?" Amika asked when Oli was outside relieving himself.

"No. In fact, I've only twice so far. Have you been with Oli?"

"We did for the first time a few days ago. It was okay."

"It gets better," M'Karo told her. "The first time wasn't that good but the second time I was with someone who had many times before and it was incredible. The sensation? I was on fire but it was in a good way, I felt like the skin around it was vibrating. It hurts but in an incredibly pleasurable way. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, but only from doing it to myself."

M'Karo nodded at that. "I have a stone fetish I got from a Conni temple. Do you want to borrow it?"

Amika nodded then the conversation was changed abruptly as Oli returned.

As they left late that evening, she hugged her friends goodbye and whispered to Amika, "Come by tomorrow."

* * *

M'Karo handed the stone fetish to Amika and the young Xeph promised to take good care of it then kissed her friend goodbye and dashed out.

With no duties for the day, M'Karo decided to go to the training room.

She took the hidden doorwell in the storage area then arrived in the thieve's tavern and saw her grandfather snoozing by the fire. She went over and gave him a kiss on the forehead then continued on to the training area.

In the fourth training room—this section of the guild had been custom built over the decades to be big enough to house representative rooftops of the area—she waited her turn as other guildsmen practice running over the rooftops as silently as possible.

M'Karo's turn finally came and she stretched and tightened her top's laces on the side.

She shimmied up a wall then pulled herself up on to the roof, sticking to the edge. Thatched roofs weren't safe for walking on unless you knew exactly where the main beams were and the only definitive ones were the walls and the mid-beam at the peak of the roof and even it could be a beam that wouldn't maintain her weight though walls always would.

She leapt to the next roof and scrambled for purchase then pulled herself up and crawled across the roof, keeping to the shadows.

M'Karo was about to leap to the next tower when she heard her named called. She moved around the roof so she could see and saw Madi standing at the door. "Your armor is ready."

"So soon?"

"We only had to modify a few parts of a finished set. You're well shaped girl."

M'Karo jumped off the roof, doing a forward roll then let out a tiny giggle as she landed in the thick hay.

She wiped off all the hay and waved to the woman working the room who rushed over to refluff the hay so it had more height to it.

As they walked along the passageway, someone called out M'Karo's name and she turned to see another padfoot of the Blackguard calling her name.

She squealed in excitement as the human caught her up and spun her around as he hugged her.

When he set her down, she asked, "What are you doing here Drewan?!"

"Your grandfather recalled me last month, I just arrived." He kissed her then she pushed him back so she could catch her breath. "What are you up to?" he asked.

"I'm off to get my armor and tonight I'm casing a party. Be my escort!"

"Happily if your grandfather doesn't have plans for me."

Drewan kissed her again and took off to see the grandmaster of the guild.

"Are you two getting pairbonded?" Madi asked.

"No, his parents expect him to marry some cousin of his and father expects me to marry this kid in about ten years when he's sixteen. It'll cement the alliance between the Blackguards and the Lightfoot clan and end the war."

Madi nodded then opened the door to the leatherworks. Madi's husband smiled at them both. "Li'l one. Well, not so little anymore."

"Uncle," M'Karo said, smiling. "My armor is done?"

"Aye lass, head on back and put it on."

In the back room, M'Karo shed the light blouse and leather leggings then undid the bandage around her chest. The leather would work to keep her breasts in place better than the bandages ever could.

M'Karo admired the armor where it lay on the table. This set was designed to look like the boiled leather armor of a Northern Clan guard with a pair of matching lammelar spaulders since they knew she preferred dual weapon fighting. They would protect her shoulders but would also allow better movement unlike plate pauldrons.

When she pulled on the trousers of the armor, it began to tighten to her body and she bit her lip, enjoying the sensation as the leather warmed and molded to her, its straps magically tightening to perfection due to the inherent magic of the darkleaves the armor was crafted from.

When she pulled on the chestpiece, she admired the way the leather straps were crisscrossed and pressed her breasts up. M'Karo had come to accept her chest size finally and smiled at her reflection in the silvered glass. She put the bardic piece in place and laced up the sides of the top then smiled at Madi as she poked her head in. "How's it—ah, you got it on. How's the fit?"

"Perfect."

"Thought it would be, do a turn."

M'Karo turned and Madi nodded, feeling jealous for a moment at the young woman's backside caressed by the leather.

"Does it affect your knife devices?"

M'Karo tightened the laces at her wrists then did the motion to eject her blades. They shot out past her hands and buried themselves in the floor.

She grinned sheepishly and pulled the knives out, readjusted the mechanism, cursing herself silently for not checking it that morning—it often got misaligned and she had to check it daily to readjust—then reset and tried it again. The blades were in her hand and she spun them again. "Nice."

She pulled the thin tunic back on over the armor and looked at herself in the mirror and nodded.

Madi folded up the bandages and the trousers as she asked, "Are you the one casing the party tonight?"

"Yeah, is it your mission?" The Blackguards compartmentalized the aspects of a job. A scout found the job or was sent out to find the goal when the guild was hired, a padfoot cased the locale, then a padfoot or higher did the job. Any thief who helped with the planning stages after the casing received a small share while the caser and the scout got a slightly bigger share.

Many older thieves who could no longer thieve properly spent their days helping the young thieves plan their attacks and lived off the proceeds and their shares from their own youth. Others who had skills like the armoursmiths and weaponsmiths got a share of the guild's share of takes since they spent all their time crafting and had no time to ply their thieving skills.

"No, just heard your father and grandfather talking about it."

She headed back to her mother's tavern and put her day clothes away then took off her tunic and studied herself in the mirror. She traced her finger over the small gem inset in the collar then activated the magic.

The armor shifted from the dark grey color and became stripes of gray, black, and white pattern that looked like the stripes on a kelanon sabertooth. She pressed it again and it shifted to a mottled blue, black, and charcoal grey pattern that would blend in well in a city.

She thought blue as she pressed the gem and the armor became a beautiful gemstone blue color. M'Karo smiled. The armor had three settings done by pressing the gem to switch from the two multicolor designs and the armor's normal mottled charcoal grey color. A thought of a color or colors and a pattern it could take those on as well at the press of the gemstone on the collar.

She realized how late it was getting when she saw the sun touching the edge of her room's small fireplace. Jumping, she started undoing the laces that made the magic of the armor tighten to the body.

There was a knock at the door and before she could say anything, one of the consorts who worked the tavern pushed in with a basin filled with hot water and some thick rags. "Your mother asked me to bring this up. I heard you're going to the Lady's party tonight?"

"I am."

"Have a wonderful time, miss M'Karo."

M'Karo smiled then finished undressing once she was gone.

She sat on the edge of her bed and began washing herself.

There was another knock then her mother's voice said, "Do you want my depilation charm?"

M'Karo hesitated then said, "Yes please?"

Her mother came in and sighed. "I remember when my breasts were that firm. Then I had your brothers and you. Breast ruiner."

She blushed lightly and her mother snickered. "Here dear."

M'Karo took the stone then began running it over her legs. The magic in the stone made the roots of the hair die and when she used her washcloth, the hairs were easily pulled away from her body. Her legs were now as smooth as her backside though her natural haircolor and the thinness of the hair on her body it looked like she was hairless as is.

She ran a clean rag over herself one more time then used rose water and the makeup she had bought to prepare herself.

She smiled at herself in the mirror when she was done putting on the makeup then fitted the gown.

When she couldn't get the waist piece tightened properly, she looked out and saw one of the servant girls walking by. "Tariya, come here a moment."

"Yes Miss M'Karo," the young girl said.

"I need help lacing this up properly."

The girl smiled and happily helped her lace up the cincher and tied a pert little bow in the end, tucking the lace underneath the cincher when done.

The girl took the cooling water and cloths as M'Karo pulled on her white slippers with their hidden blades.

She stood in front of the small mirrors pasted to the back of the door, looking at herself, moving occasionally so she could see what the small mirrors couldn't show. She thought again about buying a full size mirror but nine gold pieces was just too much for it in her mind.

There was another knock at the door and her mother poked her head in. "Drewan is here with a driver and you look wonderful. Perk up your girls though, really show 'em off."

M'Karo blushed as her mother grabbed and lightly twisted her nipples, making them erect and push out at the thin semi-transparent fabric of the gown top. "See? You'll have all the men wanting and the women jealous."

"Mother!"

"Oh please. I'm just trying to help. Now, Take what you can: give nothing back!"

She kissed her mother after chuckling at the advice then went up the stairs to see Drewan waiting.

"Hello gorgeous."

"Shush you."

He winked at her and nodded at two thieves who were idly playing a card game and steadfastly avoiding looking at their grandmaster's granddaughter. Only Drewan had had the temerity to chase after the granddaughter of a man who had happily blinded a man for calling his daughter-in-law—someone he didn't particularly like—a strumpet.

Drewan helped her up on to the carriage and smiled as she unfolded her fan, waving it so the smell of the horse was directed away from her. While she owned a pair of ponies herself, this nag wasn't long for this world she could tell.

The ride wasn't long and soon they were at the gates. Drewan hadn't spoken much besides saying he had missed her. Instead, he had spent his time reading a scroll that he now tucked back in to his Northern Province style robes. She liked how they looked on him but decided to wait to ask why he wore something like that instead of Southern Kingdom wear.

At the Old Rumrunner's Manse, the man working the door examined their invite and asked for their names to properly introduce them.

She held out her hand, showing the ring of her father's design for his shop. "Amber Niello."

He nodded as Drewan said, "James Fletcher, journeyman."

He led them to the party and a pair of pipers played a sequence then the man said, "Lady Amber of the Niellos and Mister Fletcher!"

At the bottom of the stairwell, the Lady Salazar smiled. "Lady Amber, your father's goldwork is incredible. His people did the scrolling on my gown."

"My father did it himself," M'Karo lied. "I visit him often when not practicing my needlepoint or writing poetry and I remember him doing the work on this gown. I'm sure he wanted it to be flawless for you."

Salazar smiled at that and M'Karo said, "Oh, yes, I do apologize, my escort, an old family friend James Fletcher. He's just been made a journeyman fletcher, perhaps your Lord needs a new one?"

"Come, let me introduce you as I believe he does."

They met with the lord and Drewan was promised an audience later to show his skills as a fletcher—his job for the guild was as a bowyer and fletcher—then they began to mingle about the party, speaking with those they knew while M'Karo made note of jewelry, occasionally complimenting those who wore her father's or grandfather's works.

Late in the evening, she went to find a window to open.

The perfect window found, she used a small slip of metal to magically interfere with the lock so it wouldn't move except when she touched it, then she continued on.

At the end of the party, she and Drewan made their good evenings then they got in to the waiting carriage.

As it rode along, M'Karo hitched her skirt to the side and straddled Drewan's lap. "Well?"

"Your grandfather was very specific about tonight."

"What?"

"Do whatever you want."

She kissed him as hard as she could and wiggled when she felt what she wanted. He pushed her away enough and told the driver to take them to his shop.

* * *

M'Karo got her dress back on and slipped out the back of the shop, her red wrap held tightly around herself. So cold, she thought as she maneuvered through the fog-ridden lanes of the city.

When she walked in to the tavern her mother smirked. "Well?"

"I got the job almost done."

"That's not what I meant you little snip."

"Mother!"

She laughed and watched her daughter go down to her room then turned and smiled at the guest. "Yes my lord?"

* * *

Dressed in her armor, she took to the thieves tunnels and came out less than a kilometer from the target.

It took her nearly a hour, moving from shadow to shadow, avoiding the occasional dog or other nocturnal animal until she was within the grounds of the estate.

M'Karo scaled the walls, wincing when she lost a fingernail. Note to self, she thought. Spend the money on imbued sabertooth claws!

At the window, she stroked it and it obediently opened for her.

She waited, hanging from the sill, listening for the sounds of the mansion.

Pulling herself in, she stopped for a moment to wrap her finger then headed for the most likely point.

She came to a stop and slid back in to an alcove.

A maid walked past, barely dusting, just swiping her rag occasionally.

Annoyed by the human's work ethic, M'Karo followed her until the woman came to an alcove filled with wine bottles. She caught the woman in a hold that cut off the woman's oxygen. When she was out, M'Karo opened a bottle of wine, poured the majority of it in to a potted plant, dribbled some on her dress and in her mouth, then finished off the rest herself, leaving the empty bottle next to the girl.

M'Karo made a note of the wine and headed on.

At the area she wanted to explore, she froze. There had been movement. Then she saw it. A roving ioun stone. She untucked the rag she had borrowed from the maid and waited for the stone to move her way. When it did, she caught it in the rag, spun it rapidly, then threw it to the ground.

She felt bad about destroying the stone, they were incredibly expensive but she didn't know its function. It might've been a recording device or it might've been a combat stone.

M'Karo undid the catch on the door and let it open, scanning for the telltales of alarms and traps.

She listened then stepped inside and touched the wall in a specific pattern. One shouldn't reuse old systems, she thought as a hidden panel opened. She flicked the switches, shutting off the various traps in the room.

Taking a running start, she leapt over a rug, doing a forward roll, sliding under the door as it slowly rose up.

She smiled as she stood in the room. It was exactly where she thought it would be. She wished she could take it and run but didn't.

M'Karo walked out, reset the traps then headed for the window she had come in, grabbing the bit of metal and tucking it in to the sash she used as a belt.

When she arrived back at the guild, she spent two hours drawing up the plan of the estate, marking where she had discovered traps, and so on, then handed it over to her father and slumped in a corner with a bottle of mulled wine.

He came over after speaking with the thief the job was assigned to and played with her hair. "You did good princess. Very detailed."

She nodded and he asked, "Hungry?"

M'Karo nodded after a bit of thought. A few minutes later one of the tavern wenches brought over a plate with cheeses, fruits, and her favorite rye crisps on it.

As she ate, the thief whose job it was joined her.

"Anything else you think I should look for?"

"There's a wine there, called Brothers of Sylvain from 1455. Get all of that you can, it's delicious."

He laughed. "Good to know."

"You should also hit up the upstairs museum, the paintings in it might've been real, I couldn't really check during the party."

He nodded and patted her hand then left to let her eat.

* * *

"Here you go," M'Karo's father said.

She looked up from book she was reading. "Father?"

"Your pay for the job. Two percent, your cut is nineteen hundred fifty two pieces. Minus the cost of those gloves you wanted so your pay is twelve hundred pieces. I rounded up."

"Thank you," she said, smiling as she tried on the gloves. On the palm it had a half-dozen spikes, designed to help climb with, each imbued to rebuild the inert surfaces it was used against.

She slammed her hand in to the table then pulled away and watched the divots she had caused rebuild themselves before her eyes.

Her father rolled her eyes then said, "Coming back to the tavern? I thought we could all have dinner together."

She put her book away as she nodded. "Who hired us to clean out the Old Rumrunner's Manse?"

"Some people the Lady's parents ruined financially so they could steal their land. Took them twenty-five years to be able to afford this job. It's not just us in on it, mercs and a wizard are working on it as well. I'm thinking about purchasing the Manse when it's over."


	5. Chapter 5

Anrier put the zither back in its case. "Thank you for lending it to me, Niiyani."

"You can borrow any of my family's instruments whenever you need. How did the evaluation go?"

"I passed this one but I have one more, based on my memory and improvisational skills," he told her, leaning backwards and staring up at the vines snaking across the veranda.

She moved to sit beside him and looked up at the sky as well. A pair of griffins were in a mating flight.

She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the door of her home.

Afterwards as she redressed and went to make tea, he packed his pipe then walked over to where she stood, pressing against her backside as he leaned down and used the tongs to grab a coal to light his pipe with.

"I see you're ready to go again," she said she she stood and pushed him backwards towards her bed.

His pipe spilled on the stone floor and was forgotten as her clothes were shed again.

Anrier opened the scroll and read through it twice before a bell chimed and he had to recite it.

"From fairest creatures we desire increase,

"That thereby beauty's rose might never die.

"But as the riper should by time decease,

"His tender heir might bear his memory:

"But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

"Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,

"Making a famine where abundance lies,

"Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

"Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament

"And only herald to the gaudy spring,

"Within thine own bud buriest thy content

"And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding.

"Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

"To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee."

He waited but instead of commenting on his delivery, they asked for a doggerel on the spot.

He thought a moment then said, "The queen clapped at my moves, and the king gave me his boon as a prize; but now this greatly behooves, and I must ask him not to remove my head, for he caught me betwixt the queen's thighs."

There was whispered comments between his advisors then he was sent out of the room.

Anrier dropped on to a chair near the bar and waved away the serving wench who tried to ask him what he wanted.

A few other hopefuls like himself were waiting on their own bardic summations but he was less worried about his acceptance and more worried about his own doubts.

Anrier smiled at the queen and bowed. "We thank you for your patronage your highness, we are honored to be selected to play before your parties this season."

"Just do not embarrass me," she said dismissing them.

Outside in the courtyard alone, Anrier rolled his eyes then turned to the other members of his troupe for the season. "We'll meet up tomorrow for practice," he told them, dismissing them. Most immediately headed towards the inn they were staying in.

"Where are you off to?" Sahal asked.

He turned to look at her and admired her gauzy robes and impressive chest. "I'm off to see some friends. I grew up in this city, gonna go have dinner with my grandmother. If I don't, I'm a dead man."

She laughed and watched him go then went to rejoin the rest of the bards. Northern villages were too violent for her.

When Anrier walked in to his grandfather's longhouse, two guards appraised him then upon recognition ignored him.

As he approached the dais where the elderly man snoozed, a man looked up and smiled in recognition then shook his grandfather's arm.

The man came awake and looked to his aide. "What?!"

He nodded towards Anrier and the old man looked to see his grandson. "Anrier! Wife! Your grandson is here! Bring wine! Bring some of those sugary things he used to like so much."

"Those aren't necessary grandfather but the wine would be nice."

He stood, shaking off the dog hair that had accumulated on his robes from the warhounds that lived in the hall then he clasped his grandson's arms. "It's been four years you little shit! What took you so long?"

"Training, grandfather."

Goblets were held out to them and filled then his grandfather drained it and waited for it to be filled again.

"Anrier!" his grandmother exclaimed, coming in from the outside, holding a basket of winterblossoms. "I'll get started on your favorite meal immediately! Where's Anya?"

His younger sister arrived at that moment and upon seeing her brother, came to a stop then dashed over to hug him tightly. "Brother!"

He kissed the top of her head. "You're so big now. Go help grandmother, I like how you make the dumplings."

She grinned and dashed off to the kitchens.

"Well?" his grandfather asked as he sat down next to the fire.

Anrier took the time to scratch his dog's chin when she put her muzzle in his lap. "It's not exactly what I thought it would be. I spend more time playing for inbred nobles than I do as a real bard. I'm just a glorified minstrel."

"Aye, lad, I warned you. The wars long be over, glory is hard to attain now. I know someone you should speak with. I'll give you a letter of introduction before you leave the city my boy."

"Where's father and mother?"

"Your mother is out doing the shopping and your father is knocking around your brother with the other city guards." Their family was the hereditary Armsmen of the city and in charge of the city's security. His brother—full human unlike Anrier whose mother was an elf—was a soldier like his grandfather and father.

He took a bone off the mantelpiece and handed it to his dog. "Stupid bitch," he said affectionately. She ruffed at his rough handling.

"She's had three litters since you left. We've retired her from breeding but her last two litters led to some amazing fighting dogs."

"Told you she was going to be a good bitch," he told his grandfather. The man had been planning on drowning her due to her not being the right color.

"The offcolors she's produced have actually been hugely popular. We're attempting to breed them true so we'll have russet hounds, black hounds, and blue hounds along with the ice hounds." His family also maintained all breeding stock of Ice Hounds: a breed of warhounds that grew up to four feet at the shoulder, had jaws that could crush femurs, and could run at speeds the fastest horses reached, even loaded down with full armor.

He kept rough housing with her for the next hour as he and his grandfather discussed family business—while his bardic ambitions and half-elf status left him out of the running of the family, he had been a trusted advisor since before his voice changed—and nursed their wine. The aides knew not to let his grandfather drink his fill until after dinner or his grandmother would make their lives hell.

Even the greatest Northern Warriors feared their wives for one great reason, while Northern Warriors had lost wars, their women had never lost a village or city while their men were away.

"Lend them the money. Even if the venture fails they'll owe you and it's enough money they'll be beholden."

His grandfather nodded. "Your father suggested the same thing. And when you two agree, it's the best plan," he mused as he drank the last of his wine.

His grandfather's aide came in. "Milord, your wife says get to the table or not eat."

"Wipe that smirk off your face," the old man said teasingly as he stood and walked to the dining room followed by Anrier and the dogs.

His sword and shield bearers followed along, attempting not to salivate at the smell of the meal. They'd have their own meals once their Lord and his family finished theirs.

Anrier saw his sister in her finery flirting with some courtier as he moved among the guests, strumming softly, playing a song the queen professed to favor.

Halfway through the party, his sister caught him out and begged for them to play her favorite ballad. He promised to play it for her that evening since it was a disfavored tune to the ruling family since it painted them in a poor light—though rightfully deserved.

The season was ending and his bards were preparing their train for the long trip back south. They had taken the post due to the old bard troupe dying from an illness that struck nonnortherners during the long winters, the new bard troupe had been selected and would arrive in time for the next season.

As he made sure their various instruments were loaded so that they were protected from the cold and shock of travel, his troupe checked over their weapons and their guards did the same. It was a long trip and his grandfather didn't want him getting killed for his instruments.

"Anrier!"

He turned and saw his sister and his grandfather heading his way then saw his parents and brother step out of the snow flurry.

He walked over to his family and made his goodbyes then an elderly man came out of the snow flurries.

"Ah, Anrier, here is the man I was going to give you a letter of introduction to. His name is Miyaad (beastie boys); he's an artificer. He's heading your way as well."

"You're welcome to travel with us, sir."

Miyaad accepted the invitation and went to retrieve his belongings as Anrier promised his sister he would do his best to be there for her wedding in three years. Their family and their closest allies had pairbonded the two as nine year olds but hadn't told them until a month before when the two thirteen year olds had walked in to her home and he had asked permission to court the girl, in front of two dozen men who would happily kill him at the order of the girl's grandfather.

The two had been informed they had been pairbonded at nine at what they had thought was a party for their birthdays.

"I will do my very best to be there and play your favorite song," he promised. She let go of his ear and watched her brother walk back to his convoy.

Anrier stretched as he awoke and nodded to the guard holding out the mulled and heavily spiced wine. "Thank you."

He took a long drink and stretched again, savoring the burn of the spices and the remaining alcohol as the drink helped wake him up more.

He pulled himself up on to the cart's seat and the other bard crawled in to the back to get her sleep for the night.

The guard leapt to his horse and rode ahead to wake up another bard and to hand over another heated mug of mulled wine.

Anrier took out his ocarina and played a lively tune as he watched the snow begin to come down harder. I won't miss this, he admitted to himself. How does mother stand this cold? Loving father probably helps.

It was beginning to get dark when one of the guards came back to his wagon and said, "Sir, the next good camping spot is about an hour away. We can camp here but it's not that safe of a spot and will be very cold all night."

"We'll go to the next spot. Wake up Moria, she has a few evertorches we can use for lighting since the snow is getting so thick."

A few minutes later guards began sticking evertorches in holders on the carts.

When they reached the camping area, Anrier helped with getting the horses disconnected as the rest of the troupe set up the pocket great tent.

Once they were fed and watered and the wind fences put up, he walked in to the tent and dropped in to one of the chairs by the massive stone fireplace.

The bard sitting across from him poured him some wine and Anrier thanked her as he stood then walked up the stairwell and to the farthest bedroom. His packs were outside the door and he carried them in then checked over his instruments, taking a moment to pound out a rhythm that would reverberate throughout the room all night, helping him to sleep.

When morning came, the guard in charge of the guards came in, yawning and eating a stack of leaves.

"What are you eating?" Anrier couldn't help but ask.

"It's called dwarven lettuce. It's got a very tart flavor but it also helps wake one up. Want some? It grows near old mines for the most part, there's a few old mines stoned up near the horses."

He handed over a few leaves and Anrier tried them, nodding. "Nice. Good to know, thanks."

A plate of food was set in front of him and he ate leisurely.

Anrier finished passing out the pay for the season then closed the bag with the college's share. He found his superior and passed over the money, got a receipt, then went to find his grandfather's friend at the tavern he said he planned to stay at.

When he arrived, he was recognized and a number of people asked him to play his signature song called Ready to Die. He took the tavern bard's proffered lute and used a ioun stone to give it a different resonance chamber and a louder sound then picked the first few notes before strumming it and singing.

"It is thy time to pay,

"It is thy judgement day,

"We madeth the sacrifice,

"Prey, we must take thy life."

Everyone began singing along and then began clapping enthusiastically when he played the extended version he had recently written during the trip south.

When he finished the song, he handed the lute back and joined Miyaad at the man's table.

"Interesting song," the man said.

"I wrote it originally as a kid during the combat lessons I had to take. People rarely get it's about the games of war and not war itself. Glad to be home?"

"Eh, its not really home anymore, I was just born hear here. The road is more my home these days but too old to spend my time sleeping under trees and beating off brigands."

"Adventurer?" Anrier asked, they had had little time to speak on the road.

"Sometimes but mostly, I was traveling, finding people with the talent."

Anrier looked up at that. "Recruiting bards?"

"Recruiting artificers. Your grandfather showed me the clockwork mechanisms and the instruments you built as a child. I have never seen such a beautifully crafted ocarina as the one you made your sister. And the clockworks have hints of magic about them."

"Really? I look at it and I think about the ways I should do it better." He wasn't sure about the magic thing. He had the talent on his mother's side but had never felt a compulsion to hone the skill.

Miyaad smiled. "All craftsmen are like that, always seeing how they could change what they did. Come with me to the Dragonforge and see what we do."

Anrier hesitated then nodded. "Tonight is no good, I have something to do. Tomorrow work for you?"

"Of course. The Dragonforge is south of here, five leagues. Follow the Old King's path. Maybe four leagues with your long legs and youth."

"I know the area I think. The rock that looks like a dragonskull?"

"Aye."

He stood and held out his hand. Anrier stood and took it then watched the man leave the tavern.

He sat back down and Niiyani sat down across from him. He smiled at her as he gestured for the serving wench to bring wine.

He handed the silver pieces to the young girl then pulled himself up on the horse. "Safe ride, Anrier," she said.

"Thank you Honey. Tell your mother I said hello." He winked at her and she flushed lightly then dashed off to help the next customer.

He set the horse on an easy trot and took out his ocarina. As he played, the horse pricked up her ears and her footsteps began to follow the song's rhythm.

Anrier studied the countryside as he rode along, nodding to the occasional patrol that walked the road. The Old King's road was the southern spoke from the city with the Old Queen's road running from the north to the west, kissing the edge of New King Plaza where the new palace had been built. Princely Road was the eastern spoke with the city surrounded by Farmer's Way and dozens of farms, mines, and the more offensive craftworks that were the trading base of the city.

Anrier smiled when he passed the tanners. Leatherwork and other craftwork was incredibly important to a bard and their first year in training they spent at the various craftsmens' workshops, learning how to work the materials. Anrier and one of his classmates had been nearly begged by a woodworker to become apprentices.

His horse came to a stop and he shook himself out of his reveries. Four guards were in the middle of the road, gutting and cleaning a dead bear.

"Sorry your lordship, we'll be out of your way quickly."

Anrier nodded. While he wasn't a lord his clothing was fine and ornate enough using the title was just the guard's way of making sure he was properly polite to an unknown.

"Attacked you on the road?"

"Aye, we were heading to replace the guards on the Dragonbridge when it came down at us."

Anrier piped up a song and the guards began singing along when they recognized it, working faster as they quartered and dragged off the quartered animal then Anrier carried on as they used dirt to dry the bloodstain.

He found the turnoff marked by a cairn of stones with a dragonling's skull on top.

The horse slowed her pace as they took the path, stepping high to avoid the larger rocks. He wondered how they got supplies up the roadway then remembered they were artificers. They likely had flying carpets or winged pack animals to bring their supplies and the dangerous roadway kept out fast moving enemies.

At the top of the hill two massive dragonborn stood guard outside the mouth of the dragonforge, watching him with minor curiousity.

"State your name!" one called out as he got close enough for them to tense up on their weapons.

"Anrier Kerierson, second son of Kerier Magnusson, grandson of Lord Magnus Abyssalslayer." His grandfather's lordship had come from killing a dozen abyss creatures and a demon prince in single combat. He had decided on a second name that was straight up unlike others who had earned their second name during the great war. Anrier's granduncle was named Heinrich Skullcutter for his multiple dracolich kills during the war. The man had a talent for hunting out and destroying phylacteries.

They stepped aside to let him through and Anrier was surprised to see pools of magma then realized the artificers used the magma itself as their forge's heat.

He noticed the small toy soldiers then realized what they were for and why it was so cool. They must be some sort of artifice to hold back the heat, he decided.

Inside a massive room, dozens of people worked separate forges or carved stone or crystal at worktables.

"Ah, you came."

Anrier turned and saw Miyaad walk his way, surrounded by half a dozen small mechanical birds, singing in harmony.

Anrier stared at the birds, having the epiphany he had been searching for since he had first picked up an ocarina his tutor had given him.

"This is what I've been looking for!"


	6. Chapter 6

"We have a job for you princess of thieves."

M'Karo couldn't help but chuckle at that but asked, "Where? When? For what?"

"Some paladin village named Meg's Wood. You're to leave immediately. They'll fill you in."

"Immediately immediately or tomorrow immediately?"

"Tomorrow immediately. We've got you on a cart to Imperial Province and from there we've got you a lift on one of those newfangled airships," her grandfather said then grabbed her chin and tilted her head. "Those are lovely earrings, your father make them?"

"Yes. My payment from my last job. Well, and a gold dragon comb but Erino is still making that. He's very excited about doing it since it's his journeyman piece."

"Erino's a good craftsman. Shame he's not a good thief."

"He'll do well as a fence in some province though."

The grandmaster nodded thoughtfully then said, "C'mere."

She grinned as he hugged her, lifting her up and swinging her around. "Now, go, get ready, say goodbye to your lover before you go."

She blushed slightly as he set her down then he turned and took the ale from another old thief as his granddaughter rushed off.

M'Karo packed her belongings in her bag, idly listening to Drewan as he read the latests news from the Imperial Province. "Wigs are in fashion now. The most beautiful of beauties are wearing wigs at least a meter tall they say."

"I'll have to steal one then."

He smiled. "Steal a blue one."

When she passed by him, he pulled her towards him. Falling on him, he spun her and pressed her to the bed. "Hello."

She kissed him then pushed him off. "Later. Lemme finish packing!"

"Take my shuriken. You may need them."

She caught the wrist strips covered with a dozen throwing weapons each and stuck them in her bag.

Setting the half full bag on top of her dresser she pulled out her newest dress and some utilitarian clothing and stuffed them in then studied the weapons on the wall.

She tucked in her spidersilk grapple and her climbing gloves then debated bringing a sword. She decided to go in as a thief, not a fighter.

"You were going to tell me about your job?" she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. Some prince lost his horse in a bet, we got hired to retrieve it."

"Pillaging privileges?" Some jobs were item only, others were take everything you can.

"Yes. Very excited."

There was a knock at her door and Drewan answered it with a scowl then smiled at Erino. "Hail Erino."

"Hail Drewan. Mikaro, I have your comb. Your father graded me on it a few moments ago. I'm a journeyman now. I'll be leaving for some traveling, find a place to open a goldsmithery." And act as a fence he didn't need to add.

She dropped her bag and stepped from the shadows in the corner to the shadow by her door.

"Lazy," Drewan said at the use of fey step.

"You don't mind it when I use it to get in to your room."

Erino grinned at that and held out the display box.

M'Karo examined it first. He had taken a piece of dragon bone and carved it in to a comb shaped box itself with a dragon carved in to the bone, gold inlay sintered in to the carving and ruby crescents for its eyes.

"Nice," Drewan said.

"Beautiful," M'Karo said then opened the case. The comb itself had been carved from dragon bone and shaped like a rearing dragon as well with more gold inlaid in to it and more ruby eyes.

She twisted her hair in to a bun leaving some ringlets to hang down at her temples then used the comb to hold the bun in place. "Thank you Erino."

"No problem. Take everything you can, leave nothing behind."

She slapped the back of her hand to his then he left.

"he has a huge crush on you," she told Drewan.

"I know. And if I liked men I'd take him for a ride. Now, do I get to give you a ride?"

She pushed him back towards her bed as she undid his tunic. "Well? Unbutton my dress!"

* * *

M'Karo studied the ship as she approached it. A massive balloon that looked like it was made of spidersilk connected to a sea going vessel she thought she recognized as a windjammer but since it lacked the masts and sails it was hard to tell. I wonder how Mishi is doing, she thought as she walked up. Her closest friend as a child had moved away at nine due to her father's new position as a sailing master for the Imperials.

A pair of guards weighed her and her bags then she boarded the ship, looking for her accommodations.

She found them on the second highest level and was happy to see she had a window. Falling back on to the bed she waited for the alarm the guard had warned her about.

She was awoken from a light sleep by the sound of the drums and looked at her bags. She hated leaving her stuff alone.

After a check of the lock on the door, she opened her bag and took out the wedge of metal she used to secure doors to her touch and stuffed it in the keyhole then closed the door.

As she stepped on to the deck, the drumming stopped and horns blew three times then the mooring lines were detached and an immense heat began to fill the balloon with superheated air.

The ship began to rise and M'Karo leaned over the rails, waving at the dozens of children watching and waving at those aboard.

A young Eladrin standing beside her at the railing strained to see and M'Karo said, "Stand on my feet."

It gave the girl another few inches of height when M'Karo rocked back on her heels and the girl grinned and waved back at the people.

She slipped down and turned. "Thank you sister!"

"You're welcome."

"Are you heading to the Gold Coast?" she asked M'Karo.

"No. I'm going to a Paladin training camp to deliver a pendant," she lied to the girl. "Why are you going to the Gold Coast?"

"My father is the shipping manager there and I'm going to visit him for the summer months!"

The girl wandered off to find her guardian after telling M'Karo more about her father and M'Karo leaned on the rail, watching the city slowly turn in to a dot then she moved towards the front of the ship, clutching her shawl tighter around herself as she looked at the horizon they were heading for.

Sanra sat on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees.

There was a knock at the door. She clenched her fist and a torrent of radiant fire surrounded it. When the door pushed open, she raised her hand towards the door then saw who it was.

"Hello Sanra."

She hesitated then dropped her hand. "Hello Meg."

"I wanted to tell you about him, I swear I did. I couldn't though. It would be against the rules of the order," she said weakly, knowing it wasn't a good excuse. She didn't come any further in to the room. "I, uh, I have to go."

"You can stay," Sanra said softly.

Meg smiled sadly. "No, I have to leave the town. Father gave me a mission."

Sanra looked up and smiled at that, a hint of excitement for her friend occluded still by her own anger and sadness. "Oh. Go with Corellon Paladin Ogrecrusher."

"Come with me. Father said I could bring one person with me. We'll get away from it all, kill some stuff, and make the woods a bit safer."

Sanra seemed to think about it for a moment then shook her head. "I don't feel like it."

Meg nodded and started to leave then turned back. "You'll be here when I return?"

She nodded.

"Words."

There was a sniffled chuckle and "Yes, I'll be here. But I'm thinking about visiting that gnome colony south of here."


	7. Chapter 7

Meg knelt in front of the altar, praying for strength in her ordeal then stood as the incense in front of her burnt out and the bells began chiming outside. Her sisters used to tease her about watching the incense instead of actually praying but she never had. She just had good time sense she had decided.

She kissed her palm and touched the statue of Lady Mara then picked up her hammer, enjoying how the weight in the handle shifted due to the quicksilver inside of it, adding just that much more damage to her swings with it.

She swung it over her shoulder and a magic link between her armor and the weapon held it in place as she picked up her helmet and walked out of the chapel.

Her father was waiting and held his hand out.

"What?" she asked.

"Your helmet, twit, I'm going to put it on you."

She grinned and handed it over.

He connected it for her then clasped her shoulders and prayed over her.

"I wish you wore heavier armor," he said when he was done.

"I don't like heavy armor. It's too hard to move."

He nodded and watched her pull herself up on her war pony. He patted the armor on the pony then slapped it and watched his daughter ride off. I wish Sanra had gone with her. He turned to look at the corpse hanging from the gibbet and smiled, proud of the gnome. Just wish she hadn't had to kill like that.

He turned and saw his wife approaching. "She left?"

"Yes, I didn't think you would be able to make it."

She sighed. "Well, I'll be praying for her then. As for you, what do you want for dinner tonight? There's enough for a nice slow cooked stew or some freshly caught grouse with blackberry sauce?"

"Both?" he asked hopefully.

She rolled her eyes and said fine the walked off, swinging her hips just enough that her husband watched her attentively.

He turned to look at the sun just rising over the horizon then headed in to the chapel for his own morning prayers and absolutions.

* * *

Meg looked at her map then turned on to the woodcutter's path. Her pony looked back at her. "I know where I'm going Curbstomp."

The pony whinnied and continued up the trail as she rolled her eyes. Her father didn't like her to anthropomorphize a tool that might die on her at any time but she couldn't help but do it. The pony always seemed to find her decisions on ways to go to be lacking.

She checked the map again then tucked it in to her armor and twisted the reins around a button of leather that jutted from the pommel that normally held a sword in place. She had had her short sword's sheath spot welded to Curbstomp's armor near the shoulder.

She listened to the forest, breathing in the strong smell of loam, faint charcoal smell from the woodcutters still lingering, the scent of animals living and dying, and her own odor and the horse's. "Smells good out here," she murmured.

Curbstomp whinnied.

She turned her head and watched the shadows to the left where Curbstomp was looking.

Raising her hand, she consecrated the ground and watched a pair of red eyes disappear in a gout of white flame, a scream that died out almost immediately, then silence.

The animals of the forest soon began their sounds again and she watched a fist sized dragonbeetle flit around then settle on Curbstomp's armor.

Meg admired the golden and blue colors that shimmered in the bug's carapace then it flew off when Curbstomp shook her head, making all of her armor clank.

She patted the pony's neck and whispered, "Shhh."

It was nearing noon when she found the spot she was looking for. An altar of stone with various dark tools and the corpse of a wolf. She slid off Curbstomp and twisted the reins around a tree limb then moved forward to examine the altar.

She could smell the dark magic and touched the wolf's carcass. She pushed radiant energy through it and it went up in flames. Someone was experimenting with animals in the forest.

Meg drew her hammer and brought it down on to the altar. It cracked. She pulled the weapon back and spun, let it orbit her head halfway then brought it back down and an explosion of dark energy staggered her as the altar was destroyed. She cast consecration and the ground began burning brightly. She studied the grounds around the altar and cast consecration in a few other spots. The dark magicks were burnt away under her gods' influence.

She could feel the darkness and followed it, finding a cave. Meg hesitantly looked in to it then back at Curbstomp a few dozen meters away.

She decided to go in and ducked low so she could get in then sidled her way along, wishing she could see in the dark like Sanra could.

Farther inside she pulled out her evertorch and rapped it three times. It lit, just bright enough so she could see a meter or so in front of her without damaging her vision too much.

She bent low and duck-walked as she dropped the torch on the ground. It dimmed to almost darkness as she spun her hammer in her hand. The cave opened in to a massive chamber, lit by glowing moss and crystal spires sitting on cairns.

There were also two people and four skeletons acting as guards.

Meg watched the skeletons move, looking for a pattern then saw it. When they were in the right position she leapt down, casting Consecration as she hit the ground. All four of the skeletons went up in righteous flames and fell to ash and bones as one of the warlocks cast eldritch blast and the other began an incantation she didn't recognize.

Meg used the hammer to block the eldritch blast then felt it begin to rock in her hand and she recognized the spell the second was casting. She fell in to a distance eating run and slammed her hammer in to the first and the woman's head turned in to a fine spray of pulverized bone, macerated brain matter, and blood.

Meg continued the spin and cast Consecration under the second warlock then threw her hammer. She went up in flames at the same time as the hammer crushed her between it and the altar behind her.

Meg leaned over and caught her breath then looked around, feeling nauseous at taking someone's life. She picked up her hammer and attacked the altar in it. As it exploded, she cast consecration again and looked around the room. She looted the warlocks and opened the chests at the end of the beds and ended up finding eleven gold pieces, a pair of ornate daggers that she thought were for sacrifices, and a fairly nice looking staff. She found a broken wand as well and debated whether or not to bring it with her. She decided it might be of use to the clerics as they examined what she found.

She spent a few minutes sketching the layout of the room she had found and marked it on the map then went through the room one more time. She found a rock that seemed to be a trigger. She hesitated then walked away from it and threw another rock at it. She missed and threw two more times then hit it on her fourth try. A wall opened and she found a cache of ingredients. Meg dumped them all in to her bag and made her way out, grabbing the evertorch and turning it up as high as it went, setting the lichen and moss aflame. It spread rapidly.

As soon as she was in the open air, she leaned over and vomited. When she stood up, she found Curbstomp had pulled loose and was approaching her. She hugged the horse's neck. "Silly pony."

She put the items she had found in the back across the back of her pony and strapped the staff in place then used the stream to rinse off her armor and weapon.

* * *

Meg doused her fire and exited the traveler's tree then stretched, smiling at the sun shining down, hitting her only due to the singular break in the canopy.

She placed her hammer on the ground and knelt in front of it, doing her morning prayers.

I've been out here nearly two weeks, she thought to herself when she finished.

Standing, she looked at her map. There was only one last spot to look. She checked her bag and found three day's rations left before she had to eat the traveler's bread. She hated how sweet and cloying it felt in her mouth but she ate three mouthfuls and followed it with the last of the water in her skin, saving the dried fruits and meats.

She finished it off and filled it from the stream then cast consecration on it. It helped kill anything in the water that could make her sick but she would boil it when she set up camp again to make sure.

She took the oat bag off Curbstomp's muzzle and reset her armor then pulled herself up and said, "Last place."

There were half a dozen staves, nine swords, and five packs of items found packed on the back of her horse.

When she found the entrance, she slid off Curbstomp and wrapped her reins around the limb. "Now stop pulling loose. I leave you in these consecrated areas so you're safe. Okay?"

She neighed.

Meg reconsecrated the ground beneath the horse, put the pony's oat bag on, then took her hammer in hand and followed the path to the old graveyard. She had been trying to avoid this for the simple fact that her brother had disappeared investigating this area during his own Humbling.

She sighed. The Humbling was a mission for a Paladin, three weeks of solo fighting of evil—her invitation of Sanra would have left the gnome staying at the camp but it would have made her do something besides sitting on her bed, dwelling on what had happened—cleansing a site of evil. The woods surrounding Meg's Woods was perfect since it kept getting deconsecrated by demons and infested by other dark creatures.

She moved carefully on to the path, listening as she moved along, approaching the ancient battleground where demon prince had fought demon prince before being destroyed by the first Paladin named Meg though her family name had been Oresparker from her father, a human miner raised by dwarves until she married a cleric named Deeproy Liferaiser.

Why are so many of the women in our family named Meg, she pondered then shook it off. She didn't have time to think on that.

Meg moved along the path slowly.

She saw a pair of ghouls shuffling along the path towards her. She pushed back against the wall and was semi-hidden by hanging ivy. I hope this isn't the poisonous kind, she mused as the ghouls got closer.

When they passed she stepped out and swung hard. The hammer swept through the torso of the first, splitting it into limbs and organs flying and the continued swing crushed the jaw of the second. It dropped to the ground and she stomped its head, wincing at the melon-like sensation and sound and the memory it brought up. I may not ever be able to smash a marshmelon again, she thought.

Wiping her foot off on the thick gravegrass, she remembered something her grandmother used to say: Gravegrass should never be cut for it grows from the dead and is their last act of love for the world.

She looked to make sure she hadn't damaged it then continued on.

As she continued on, she saw more clumps of gravegrass. Where soldiers had fallen, the survivors had come back later and dug holes there, marking them with stone markers that had eventually weathered away, consecrating each spot in hopes of finally consecrating the woods in full, using the dead to power the spells.

Another ghoul appeared and she rushed towards it, crushing its head with a downward smash.

She continued fighting through enough ghouls to fill a company of soldiers with only two stops to drink some water and eat some traveler's bread.

God I hope these aren't the paladins that fell here with my ancestors, she thought as she pulled her hammer from the chest cavity of the latest ghoul kill.

She entered the area of the battleground where the portal to the Abyss had been.

She started to cast Consecrate when she saw a bolt rip through her armor's plate pauldron and stop halfway out. She could feel the shaft rubbing against the deep divot it had just cut in her shoulder and she spun and saw a pair of crossbow wielding Dark Paladins smiling at her.

She growled as she sprinted towards them. She ducked another bolt and the second glanced off her armor due to bad angle then she swung.

The first Dark Paladin shed his crossbow and drew his shield in enough time to catch the hammer blow. It tore the shield from the Dragonborn and she kicked at his knee, hoping to shatter it. His armor held up but he went down nonetheless.

Meg turned her attention to the second and cast Consecrate as she rushed forward. She dropped her crossbow and drew a sword that glimmered green and looked as if it was made of glass.

The female Dark Paladin caught the hammer blow with the sword and it didn't shatter as Meg had expected. She spun Meg away and Meg growled then spun her hammer, hitting the struggling to stand again male and glanced off the female's shoulder.

The male threw his shield as he regained his feet and limped towards Meg while the female screamed in horror as Meg hit her with a righteous smite, crushing her strong arm and making her drop her sword.

Meg spun and brought the hammer down on the male Dragonborn's skull, crushing his head, leaving the corpse to flop around. She spun again to face the female and yelled, "To the Abyss with you!" as she brought the hammer up in an upstroke, ripping the female's jaw off. She went to her knees then dropped to the ground, trying to scream.

"I consign your soul to the abyss!" she said softly then brought the hammer down on her head.

Meg grabbed the bolt and pulled it out, biting down on the leather bit in her helmet, her scream of pain muffled by it. Once it was out, she cast lay on hands on herself and could feel the skin and muscle regrowing and knitting together. It itched terribly, something she knew it would do for the next few weeks, the same amount of time it would take to normally heal.

Meg hesitated then began stripping the armor off the two Dark Paladins and used some vines to wrap all their armor and weapons together.

She dragged it back to her horse and put it on the travois she was using to carry the items she had liberated. Slumping down, she ate some more traveler's bread and wondered about the cold feeling in her stomach at the thought of returning to the battlefield. Two Dark Paladins meant something was there. And finding her brother's remains were a priority.


	8. Chapter 8

Anrier pulled off his tunic and used it to wipe the sweat off his head and chest then smiled at the woman who approached him. She set a flagon of mead down and a plate of food. "Miyaad said you planned to work here all night?"

He nodded as he stroked the fire to heat up the iron he was shaping. "Thank you Hermione."

She winked at him and walked away. He watched her go, admiring the way she swung her hips then turned back to the fire, stoking it until sweat beaded on his skin again.

He pulled out the metal and put it on the mold then stepped back. The weight activated the magic and the top half of the mold descended, sending out a beautifully clear ringing tone, crushing the semi-molten metal in to the form.

The top half pulled back and he touched the mold and it crumbled in to coal dust. Lying on the anvil was a pair of still bloodish colored red-hot iron hafts for a sword. He waited until they cooled a bit more then used his tongs to place them in a trough of faelcuvyn blood.

He wrinkled his nose at the smell then took out the metal. The magic in the blood and his own magic, talent and will caused the metal to recrystallize, taking on a black, light-drinking hue.

After putting it back on the anvil he poured a few buckets of water on it then took out the velvet roll and put it on his worktable. Spreading it out revealed a number of gems, a small tub of cement, and a handful of platinum braids.

He set to putting the gems in place, using the cement to secure temporarily. When all the stones were in place he began laying out the platinum braids in order of their use.

Reaching under the table, he rooted around in the various drawers to his right side then found what he was looking for. When he brought his hand up he had a small mechanical dragonling in his hand. "Ready?" he asked it.

It gave no response but its mouth clicked open when he pressed on a horn then it sparked a few times. A moment later there was a ten centimeter long blue flame. He tickled the belly of the device in a specific pattern and the flame got hotter and shorter and he began the long process of using the mechanical dragonling to melt silver alloy and affix the platinum to the hilt to hold the gems in place and create a secondary magical field for the sword.

xxxxx

Miyaad found his student asleep at his workspace, the schiavona complete before him. He picked up the weapon and examined the hilt, black as night with winking red, green, and blue gems surrounded by platinum wire with the basket cage made of cold iron plated in silver. The broadsword blade itself was made of mithral with cold iron and silver scrolling inset in to the four fullers.

Miyaad took a few practiced swings with it and marveled at the balance. Anrier was not a weaponsmith but had perfectly balanced his first weapon. He wondered what it was designed to do since nothing an artificer made did just want it looked like but set it down and began to walk away from Anrier.

"Miyaad?" he asked sleepily as his head came off the table.

"I didn't mean to wake you, child, I was just examining your sword. It's weighted beautifully."

"I cheated a bit, using a spell to make it about 300 grams lighter bladeside."

"We all do," Miyaad said. "What's its property?"

"Compelling obedience from an opponent. It's a gift to my sister's intended. I made her a handful of birds that can learn new songs to be in harmony."

Miyaad nodded thoughtfully. Music performed by mechanical entities but still displaying the soulfulness a humanoid would exhibit was Anrier's goal in artificing, one Miyaad admired. Many of his students cared only for making new weapons of war or raising their own wealth. Bringing more music to the world made Anrier the man's favored student.

"Well, get some sleep, tomorrow you're off to home are you not?"

He nodded. "I'll be back within a week."

Miyaad nodded and walked off as Anrier began cleaning up his workspace. No one else would use it while he was away but the thought of the tools he had spent so much time crafting under the tutelage of Miyaad and other masters being left just distressed him.

As he walked to his bed he noticed the star field, moon watch, and season tracker that projected in every room, letting all know what the date was and yawned. He had spent five years learning to be a bard and performing as one then walked away from it at 21. Now he was nearly twenty-four and nearly a journeyman in another field. He hoped he wouldn't find something else that could help him in his goals.

xxxxx

Anrier packed the seven songbirds carefully then settled their case next to the sword's in his new luggage, a 1½ meter long by a ¾ of a meter tall by 1 meter wide trunk with hundreds of short legs. Made of Darkwood panels; stacked dragonleather for the frame and legs; cold iron handles, corner protectors, and hinges; and sintered dragonbone and gold powder to create the filigree in the leather that allowed the dog soul phylactery he had commissioned from a warlock that would give the chest life. It had worked on his second try and now he had an incredibly loyal chest with more space on the inside that when field tested, snapped a man's hands off that tried to steal from the trunk.

He finished packing everything then rubbed the trunk and it shivered then jumped around a bit. "Good trunk. Go lie down."

It ambled off and settled in front of the fireplace as he pulled on his travel armor, a thin pullover tunic and a pair of heavy white trousers over a pair of white boots with red studs in them.

As a precaution he prepared his lightning sphere spell and stored it in his armor. The scrollwork that allowed him to due so began to glow red, looking as if blood from his neck or face had stained the armor then it faded back to white.

He looked out the window and saw it was raining and pulled on the massive overcoat of the armor, a robe much like a cleric of the Benciscan Order: high collared with a small cutout in the front where a black band resided with a hood hanging down his back. Pulling the hood up it bonded to his forehead so it wouldn't fall in to his eyes and he slapped his thigh as he put his short sword on his belt then walked to the door.

His trunk got to its feet and ambled after him.

As they made their way through the dragonforge, various artificers said good morning or wished him safe travels.

Outside where the horses were stabled in a hidden cave, he made his way to the artificial horses.

His stood off by itself and when he approached came alive, neighing silently. "Still," he told it then looked at his lugged. "In you go!"

Like the trunk which was large enough on the inside for four people to hide, the interior of the horse, only a half a meter wide at it's largest breadth accepted the trunk easily with room to spare as it leapt in.

Anrier closed the rump of the horse and pulled himself up then pulled the reins to head out.

As he maneuvered out of the stables, his Iron Defender joined him, an iron Ice Hound with spikes running down its back fell into step with the horse. Instead of a normal jaw, four pincers were shaped like a muzzle and used to grasp its targets to give Anrier unparried attacks.

"Have you been a good boy?" he asked the Iron Defender.

It barked silently and he mused aloud "I really should give you and the horse voices. I'll work on that when I get back I think. Not even sure why I didn't since you were both prototypes for the birds." He had done the larger animals then graduated to the immensely complicated, light, flying creatures.

He took out his lute from where it was stored in the horse's neck and began strumming, occasionally making notes on the pad of parchment on the front of his saddle.

At the landing zone for the airships, the guards waved and one called out "Will you be playing the summer parties!?"

As he got closer, he said, "I'll be playing some stuff in the parks this season most likely but I'm not working full time as a bard anymore so no society parties."

They nodded and helped him get his horse and Iron Defender aboard the airship.

The human captain, the ship's dragonborn artificer, and the dwarven firetender all move to greet him. "Anrier," the artificer said.

""Wristbreaker," Anrier replied. "How're you?"

"Good pointy. Anrier, this is Colonel Angus, captain of the Skyjammer. And this is Billius 's our firetender this trip."

He nodded at them both and shook their hands.

Once the introductions were done and Anrier accepted the invitation to dinner that night with the captain, he and Wristbreaker walked to the end of the ship.

"I hope they don't use that name," Wristbreaker said as he looked back at the two and Anrier looked chastened. "I'm sorry, I forgot only certain people use that name for you."

"No worries, I'll smack them around if they use it. Now, since you're here, help me reinforce the weather wardings. What's the weather like in the Northern Province?"

"Ever seen a meter of snow fall in less than an hour?"

Wristbreaker looked at him with shock in his eyes as Anrier nodded, confirming he wasn't making a joke. Two hundred fifty days of the year it snowed at least a half inch a night and melted just enough during the day they only gained an inch a week.

The two spent the next four hours reinforcing the wardings, especially against wind and snow.

When done, they had only a few minutes rest before the drums and horns sounded, signifying they were about to liftoff.

Anrier headed to his cabin and found his Iron Destroyer in the room, its eyes glowing the the semi-darkness. He lit one of the safety lanterns then dropped on to the bed. "Look away from me," he told the Iron Destroyer. It's purple and gold eyes were disconcerting, even to him.

After a minute of uncomfortableness he stood and took off his greatcoat then fell back in to the bed, propping the boots up on the chair next to it.

He was awoken hours later and opened the door to find a young boy at it. "Yes?"

"The captain told me to inform you that dinner would be served in twenty minutes," the cabin boy told him.

"Thank you." He gave the lad two silver pieces and the child smiled brightly then ran off. Anrier knew that since the boy was a cabin boy, his pay was room, board, and training as a seaman—or in this case, Anrier guessed the term was airman—and heaps of abuse from the other sailors. He remembered from his own apprenticeship how hard money was to come by if you didn't have a family like his to send money to afford creature comforts. Those two silver pieces would keep the boy in sweetcakes for a few months if he wasn't greedy.

Anrier's stomach growled and he looked at his coat then at the cheap sheet of pounded metal that was supposed to be a mirror. He decided if the Colonel didn't like his armor at dinner, he didn't care.

He ran his fingers through his hair after dipping his fingers in the pitcher of water then walked out and headed to the captain's cabin at the aft of the ship.

On the deck he found it was drizzling slightly and he watched where it fell in a small strip down the middle of the ship due to the void between the two balloons.

The fire was stoked as he walked past and it felt like a blast furnace compared to the dragonforge which had its heat moderated by various magicks.

He stopped to watch the technique of the stokers for a few moments then continued on.

In the captain's cabin, he joined the captain, Wristbreaker, Orefinder, and three other important passengers, two of which recognized him and asked why he no longer performed as a bard.

"I had an epiphany a few years ago and realized my vision couldn't be completed as just a bard. I'm an apprentice artificer these days. I think it'll be a revolution."

The conversation turned to how long the flight was expected to take and Anrier thanked the boy when he poured his wine.

When the second course was brought out, one of the others asked, "Have you heard the new ballad from Sig Nicious?"

Anrier set his wine glass down and nodded. "Aye. It's good. It's got a nice tremolo effect. It's caused by using a bow on a lute. No one had done it before but now lutesmiths are attempting to develop lutes expressly for bow use.

"The lyrics though, are a bit rough. And I know that sounds disingenuous coming from me since most of my lyrics are shallow but what would you rather hear? One of my songs that lasts about four minutes or a long-form ballad that takes an hour to complete telling you the complete lineage of a hero before getting to the actual story?"

"You have a point," the Colonel admitted. "The only time I care about the lineage of a hero is if he's from my own family."

Anrier smiled as the rest nodded.


	9. Chapter 9

Niela finished dribbling the sand around herself then stood. She felt the magic began to build and she could see the world around her begin to waver. Then the sand began to shift and the ground below her became the portal she was waiting for.

Before her stood a beautiful, abstract temple, made of pearlescent stones, bricks of light, and mortar that shimmered like rainbows. She looked down and realized she floated. Hesitant, she tried to step forward and it worked. She strode towards the entrance of the edifice, trying not to show how frightened she was. She had spoken the true names of the stars, opening a portal to this plane wherein 7,777 lesser fey worshipped a great fey that worshipped Corellon Larethian.

Niela froze in the great temple, looking around the pews. Thousands of different types of creatures, only a few she recognized sat, congealed, or stood on pews, looking towards and worshipping the astral being, itself worshipping at a statue of Corellon.

She froze, unsure what to do. Then she heard a voice in the back of her head. Come forward. I can pray and converse, child.

She moved forward, doing her best not to turn and stare at the various creatures, many so compelling it took all her will, others so hideous she strained not to run in terror.

The being at the front was half in this plane and half in another and the image of it wavered as she bowed.

Enough with that, it said. You spoke the true name, you're here to bargain for power. I'll give it to you. But there's a human you must kill for me. The moment his blood hits the sand, my power will fill you. Deal struck?

"Yes," she said without hesitation.

The being touched Niela's chest and the young Eladrin's eyes began to take on a tinge of green mixing with the pink she had been born with. The plane wavered around her then she knelt, vomiting. The other warlocks surrounded her. They could see the mark of the Star Pact when she stood—the eyes and the aura—and congratulated her. It was the first true step to power.

xxxxx

Niela opened the case and smiled. A Wand of Dreadful Words. She smiled even brighter at her mentor. "Thank you!"

"It's nothing, child, only a token of my pride. Go, prove your worth before its eminence."

She placed the wand in a holster on her hip then shouldered her traveling pack and made her goodbyes to the rest of the coven. She didn't plan to come back, she had decided to travel the world, studying with a few other covens that her mentor had marked on a map for her.

She walked outside and smiled at the horse waiting for her, a gold and tan spotted pony with gold ribbons woven into her mane.

Niela pulled herself up and patted the stallion's neck. "Let's go Chelios."

She heeled the horse into a canter and took a scroll out of her robe.

It was nearing noon when Chelios began to slow. She looked up and saw they were approaching the hill to the local city.

She slid off, pointed him back towards the coven and slapped his rump. "Home."

Niela watched him canter off then turned and headed to the city.

As she approached, a guard challenged her. She turned to him and smiled a smile devoid of warmth and full of eldritch fire. The humans watching her paled and moved to let her pass.

Niela tucked the glamour back in to her robe and checked the signs then found the road to the abandoned abbey. Hidden inside it were a pair of portals for those who knew they were there, leading to the two largest cities on the other continents.

Inside, she saw it was empty save for rats and spiders and closed her eyes, wrinkling her nose at the dust she stirred up.

She ducked down and picked up the copper she saw and started to slip it in her pocket then noticed the abandoned alms box. Niela slipped it in to the box and hoped whoever once oversaw the abbey would return and find it.

She stopped and smiled when she saw the Abbey had a statue of Lorellon.

Niela bowed to it and touched the foot of it as she passed then stepped in to the wall.

She could feel herself go cold, colder than she had ever been before then she felt as if she was being stretched from front to back. Then the sensations disappeared and she stood in the middle of an old burnt out home a few dozen meters from the walls of the city.

Still cold, she pulled her cloak out and wrapped herself in it then walked towards the city.

Instead of frightening the guards, this time she smiled politely and handed over the coin required to get in. She didn't want to bring attention to herself.

As Niela walked the streets, she studied the map she had just bought. Her target was an older human, working for the Imperial Banking system. Wish I was a thief, she mused as she studied the exterior of the bank.

She walked in and looked for the money changers.

A human walked up and smiled at her politely. "How may I help you, Lady Eladrin?"

"I need to change some money."

"Of course my lady, this way."

He led her towards the back of the building. "Have you been here before m'lady?"

"No unfortunately."

"Ah, welcome then. This building was once the Imperial Family's main residence until the Court decided to move to Blackrock Oasis then renamed it Imperial Province."

He continued telling Niela about the crenellations and fornications of the bank and Niela's mind blanked. "Fornications?!"

"Oh yes, quite lovely ones," he said, looking upwards at the arches in the ceiling.

She decided not to question that and followed along until she was introduced to the the head money changer. And her target. She held out her hand and he kissed it then asked, "How may I be of service, Lady Eladrin?"

She took out a large purse and set it on his table.

He picked it up and looked inside then set it back down and spread out an orange velvet sheet upon the table. He spilled the coins on the table and began carefully counting them. "You have so many, are you sure you want to change them? These are so rarely seen amongst humans." The money of Elandra were small semi-precious gemstones inset in octagonal, square, or triangular discs of precious metal and small squares and circles without gemstones for the smallest denominations. He held one up and admired how the light made the green stone scintillate.

"Yes, I've spent the majority of my local money on supplies and I've had to break in to my emergency money."

He nodded understandingly.

"Would you care for something to drink? We have a nice wine or a local water source has a very interesting flavor to it." He started to gesture over his assistant then winced and drew his finger back. One of the triangular coins had pierced his skin.

"Are you injured?" she asked, pretending not to notice the blood on the coin.

"I'm fine, just one of your coins had a bit of an edge to it."

"I apologize," she told him as she saw the hint of green in his eyes become even stronger.

He waved it off and his assistant came over. A few moments later he returned with a wine glass filled and she took a sip as the man continued counting, doing the conversions on an abacus.

After a few more minutes of calculations, he said, "Seven hundred fourteen gold pieces and fourteen copper. Yes?"

Niela nodded, surprised. The conversion was better than she thought it would be, even with their fee.

A few minutes later he was escorting her out, her money pouch heavier by seven platinum pieces and the rest in gold and copper.

He kissed her hand and hoped she would come again then Niela made her way to the finest inn in the district, handing over 40 gold pieces for dinner and a room and despising every moment of it. Her favorite inn charged fifty silver for a night and two meals and their bards were incredibly knowledgable.

She went up to the room and was glad to see it was clean then undressed down to her chemise and settled on the bed, crossing her legs and began to spread her consciousness out, searching for the poison she had introduced to the human's system. It linked his life to hers and through her to the celestial being she had made the deal with.

She found him and watched him carefully.

He left the bank after two hours more work then went to a tavern a few streets from the bank. She could almost taste the sour beers he drank, one after another until he had the courage to hire a whore for the evening.

She saw his heartfire and hers leave the tavern then make their way down the streets until they were at his home, a small three story in an affluent area of town. She waited until she felt his heart speed up and she stood, shaking off the slightly tainted feeling coursing through her.

Niela dressed quickly, putting on the elegant gown of a woman who would live in the man's area then pulled on a scarf her mentor's wife had given her. It glamoured her enough to pass for a human to most people.

She walked down the streets, trying to avoid the heartfire of guards. While human heartfires were difficult to discern from one another, the discipline of the guards made them easier to recognize versus those heading home.

When she could feel the man's heart, pounding away in a rhythm twice the speed of the rhythm he used on the woman who did not seem to be enjoying the activity she was involved in.

Niela took out the blow dart then pushed her way in to the back door of the home when she felt no one watching.

Inside, she waited until she saw the whore coming towards the stairs. She expelled the dart with a mighty breath and the woman stopped, felt her neck, looked at the dart, then started to turn. Her arms fell to her side, dropping the needle. Her system began to depress and she slumped to the floor, conscious still but not for long. Niela passed by. "Sorry," she whispered.

She pushed open the door of the bedroom and drew the dagger from her waistband. For you.

She shoved the blade deeply in to the man's chest.

He woke up, trying to scream. The knife had destroyed his diaphragm. Air was no longer able to be drawn in to his lungs.

Niela shoved the blade in to his heart this time and fought not to vomit. Physically killing someone was a new experience. Killing by mind arrows and eldritch fire had always left her physically distant from those she killed.

The magic in the blade infused in to her body and she felt the power unlocked.

Niela wiped the blade off on the body and left the room.

She tucked the blade in to the whore's belt then picked her up and threw her down the stairs.

She walked down after the woman and leaned down to check her breathing. None.


	10. Chapter 10

Meg walked down the path, the feeling of dread growing in her stomach.

Back on the battlefield, she prepared herself then headed towards the altar. As she approached, the massive doors behind it pushed open and she went cold. An illithid came out, a pair of Dark Paladins flanking it.

She heard "Yes my lord," from one of the Dark Paladins as she shifted to the side, hiding.

She watched the two armored foes moved towards where she had encountered the first pair of Dark Paladins.

"THEY'RE DEAD MILORD!" she heard yelled.

Meg burst into a run, heading towards the pair of Dark Paladins. She had to take them out fast so she could concentrate on the illithid.

The two Dark Paladins yelled as she jumped towards them, bring her hammer down on the rightmost Dark Paladin's head, crushing it with the sound of a wassermelon cracking open. Meg fought not to vomit as she spun and brought the hammer in to the unguarded side of the second Dark Paladin.

It fell to the ground and she stomped on its head, shattering the jaw. It still lived and she brought the hammer down on its arms.

She started to turn and went farther than she planned as the illithid used a mind whip to slap her, sending Meg flying. She slammed in to a tree and heard two snaps, her ribs and the tree.

Meg pulled herself up, grinding the leather strap in her teeth as she cast lay on hands on herself. She could feel her ribs set improperly and it was going to be a slight impediment but not as much as the impediment of one eventually piercing her lung she decided.

She cast radiant delirium on the beast and smiled as it screamed in her head.

Even with the healing spell she had used, Meg could only move slowly and cast righteous circle as she got close. The flayer tried to strike her with a mind whip again but this time she dodged the thickening of air. She hit it with a fearsome smite and saw its right arm crisp from the flames.

It hit her with its left arm and she went flying again.

Mildly stunned, she pulled herself away from the rock and could feel blood running down her back and her helmet was dented, semi-occluding her vision.

Then it was fully occluded as it tried to wrench her helmet off with its left hand, screaming in pain and anger inside her mind.

The helmet was wrenched from her as she jammed her dagger in its neck. As it angrily threw her backwards, her grip on the blade caused her to rip its throat out, sending black ichor flying as she struck her head and had her ribs broken again. She coughed up a great gout of blood before falling unconscious.

xxxxx

Sanra pulled herself up on the pony and thanked the boy helping her.

"Safe trip Sanra," he said.

"Thank you Tamriel. Thank your dad for letting me have his fastest pony too."

He nodded and waved as she rode off, urging the horse to a gallop.

When Tamriel turned around once she was out of sight he found his father standing behind him. "She get off okay?"

Tamriel nodded and his father patted the boy on the head. "Go clean the stables and then you can have the rest of the day to yourself."

"Yes father," he said excitedly. It was early morning still. He could be done before lunch most likely and then play with his friends.

xxxxx

Sanra sang softly to herself, an old flyting song where a gnome and a halfling spent four hundred verses insulting each other in good natured fun. Her parents and their gnome friends had taught it to her when she had expressed interest in her own racial heritage and she had soon learned it all, singing it often with Meg taking the role of the halfling in the song though eventually they had begun rewriting it to be between a human and a gnome.

"Sanra Line 1

"Sanra Line 2"

"Meg Line 1

"Meg Line 2"

"Sanra Line 3

"Sanra Line 4"

"Meg Line 3

"Meg Line 4"

She stopped singing and took out the scroll she used to write down spells and their components then began writing down some new lines.

She started humming and the pony slowed. Sanra used her heel to make the pony get back up to speed as she looked up to see if anything was making the animal slow.

xxxxx

Meg walked down the path, carefully picking her feet, avoiding the corpsegrass. Dread began to fill her stomach as light began to empty from the sky. The two dead Dark Paladins weighed heavily on her mind as she stepped again on to the battlefield.

xxxxx

Sanra looked at the note from Meg's father, outlining where she would be exploring.

She made a turn towards the old battlefield, deciding her friend would have saved it until the last due to it likely being where her older brother had failed in his Humbling.

"Speed up Rachel! She's gonna be done soon."

The pony flicked her ears and picked up her pace.

Sanra slipped the note back in her robe's pocket and began humming again.


	11. Chapter 11

M'Karo slipped off the back of the cart train and faded in to the shadows, waiting as the trained wended its way. Finally the last of the outriders passed and she stepped on to the road and followed it to the crest of the hill. She stopped to look at the valley with the village ash had the commission in and the three holy buildings around it.

She tightened her robe around herself and headed towards the city, guessing it would be about a twenty minute walk.

When she arrived at the city's gates, two men in glistening white armor smiled at her. "Good morning m'lady. Welcome to Meg's Woods."

She smiled back, liking how polite they were. "Thank you, I'm looking for your mayor? He commissioned something from my guild."

"The white stone house with orange roofing tiles."

She nodded in thanks and walked in, resisting the urge to triffle their pockets. Such trusting people made for disappointing targets. People who feared being robbed had things worth stealing and usually had stolen them first.

She took a long path, enjoying the look of the village. Unlike the city she lived in with its dirty stone foundations with mostly wood construction, this city looked as if they scrubbed their stonework weekly.

A little girl smiled at her and said she had beautiful hair then skipped off to join a handful of other girls who were plaiting flowers together.

"You're the thief?"

She turned and smiled at the older woman. "Yes, ma'am. Are you the mayor?"

"Mayor's wife, come this way."

She led M'Karo to their home and settled on to the divan as her husband pushed away a pile of scrolls. "Welcome, Blackguard. Your grandmaster said he was sending his best."

"A bit of nepotism," M'Karo said with some humility. "I'm related to the Grandmaster."

He smiled. "I know the feeling, my daughter is on her own Humbling, a test of a Paladin.

"Anyway, our issue. You can read?" It wasn't an incredibly common skill for most.

"Yes," she told him. "Eladrin, Common, and Tel-Quessir. And enough Dwarven to get into fights."

He laughed at that. "About as much Dwarven as I know. This is everything you need to know then," he said, pushing over one of the scrolls after finding it in the pile. "And a quarter of the pay up front." He had negotiated with the scout, and the man had taken one half for the guild up front with the other half to M'Karo towards her work, a quarter up front and a quarter on completion.

She opened the scroll and read it in front of him twice.

"Where's the statue?"

The mayor led her to the chapel a few streets away from his home and she admired the craftsmanship. At least ten meters tall it stood in the exact center of the largest building, a beautifully carved marble statue of the deity she felt the most affinity to, Corellon Larethian.

M'Karo studied the entrances to the building and saw nineteen different ways to get in, not surprising for a temple. She pulled herself up on the statue and found pry marks where the eyes had been inset and some damage to the statue. Then she saw how it had been made. The eyelids and brow had been glued in to place to hold the eyes.

"The bow was solid gold?" she asked as she looked at the hand that would have held it.

"Yes."

She nodded, a soft metal, easy enough to yank out.

"Do you know who might have done it?" a small voice asked and she saw a young girl had entered to temple.

"Yes. The knife used to pry the eyes free had triple tines. I'll be off immediately."

As she promised the girl she'd find the eyes, the girl took her ribbon out of her hair and held it out to M'Karo. "Here, it's my favorite. You can use it to wrap the eyes."

"I'll do just that," M'Karo promised.

The girl smiled and dashed out, her hair streaming out behind her.

"Go with the gods," the mayor said and watched her go out, admiring her assured stride in someone so young. He'd always found half-elves to be incredibly beautiful.

He went to find his wife so they could start preparing the feast for their daughter's return.

xxxxx

M'Karo was walking towards the road when one of the paladins she had seen at the gates approached her, leading a stallion with a war saddle on it. "The grandmaster of our order wants you to use his charger. We left the armor off him."

She blinked, somewhat shocked as he continued, "He's a paladin's charger so you'll need a whistle to summon him since he spends his free time with our Lady in Her pastures."

The paladin knelt and held his hands out to help her up. Once she was up, he stepped back and brought his fists to his chest. "The Grandmaster says he is yours as long as you need him. When you no longer need his service, give his whistle to any paladin you meet, it'll get back to us."

"Th-thank your grandmaster for me."

He nodded. "You may keep him if you wish though," he added quietly. "The Grandmaster is old and unless our tools to call our horses are with someone else, the horses die with us. 'Think of him as a bonus,' the Grandmaster wanted you to know."

M'Karo nodded and heeled the horse to a walk.

"The Grandmaster called him Fox," he called out to M'Karo as she rode off.

He watched her go then stretched and headed for the Abbey to see how his intended was.

xxxxx

M'Karo patted the neck of the horse. "Fox, huh?" The horse whinnied. "It's a good name," she agreed. She had had a pet fox as a child until some princeling's dog had set on it and killed it. The Blackguards had financially destroyed the family after the prince refused to have his son apologize.

She took the next left on the road and set him to a gallop. There was a waystation less than half a day's ride where she could ask some questions and spread some coin. The only thieves that used tri-tined knives were the Silver Daggers, mercenaries more than thieves and a blight to be destroyed. They were led by a former Blackguard that had betrayed the order and killed one of M'Karo's ancestors.

When she arrived at the waystation, it was starting to get dark.


	12. Chapter 12

Anrier thanked the woman for the meal and watched her go then turned back to the bards he sitting at the table with him. "We'll rehearse again after we eat."

They nodded and tucked in to their plates, half-listening to the bard that worked the tavern they sat in. "Thoughts?" one of the bards asked.

They all stated the woman was terrible and Anrier nodded. The bard wasn't very good but she was good enough for a tavern where the liquor was strong and cheap and the workers just wanted a nice singalong after a hard day's work.

"Food is good," Anrier said as he wiped up the last bit of the stew with the last of the pan fried bread.

"So filling," the young woman in their group said, pushing the rest of her stew away.

Anrier grabbed it before anyone else could.

Done with the meal they left a dozen coppers on the table then walked out to their waiting mounts. The group rode to a nearby park and settled in under a copse of trees where the snow wouldn't hit them.

Anrier stroked his lute and listened to the tone then adjusted a peg while the others tuned up their instruments then began playing along with Anrier when they were ready.

They began to draw a crowd and Anrier shifted in to a different song.

By the time the sun began to set, Anrier's lutecase had been filled with hundreds of coppers, dozens of silver pieces, and a handful of gold pieces.

Anrier and the others began putting their instruments away. Anrier divvied up the coins between the four others then put his lutecase on his mount's neck. He patted it and the eyes of the construct flashed brightly as it looked at him. "Yeah, you need a voice," he told it and patted its muzzle.

"Should we ride to the city?" one of his troupe asked.

Anrier laughed. "Suicidal are we? Riding at night in the Northern Province is a wonderful way to get killed by Ice Wolves, get lost, or freeze to death. We'll stay here tonight and start off in the morning. A good pace will get us to my home an hour or two before dusk."

"It's that dangerous up here?" another asked.

Anrier nodded. "The North breeds men among men. My brother and my father are some of the hardiest men I've ever met. When I was little and we went on hunting trips, I'd have to be covered up by a half-dozen furs so I wouldn't freeze to death" due to his half-elven heritage "they made do with the heat the coals put out. I've seen my grandfather stalk a wolf for six days wearing just a loincloth. Northerners are hardier than any nonmagical being I've ever met."

"Seriously? Just a loincloth?"

"He'd wear only them if it wasn't for my grandmother nagging him." They all laughed as they headed back to the inn.

xxxxx

First light broke over the horizon as Anrier packed his belongings away in his trunk then had it jump up in to the construct.

The rest of the troupe he had assembled for his sister's wedding brought their own horses out of the stable. "How much would it cost to have one of those made?"

"About five hundred gold pieces in material, a pair of star rubies for the eyes, and one moss agate or flawless blue quartz piece for every day you want it to function. Or one flawless blue diamond for eternal functionality. I went eternal functionality. Then another five hundred gold pieces for me to do the work. Still want one?"

"I'll stick with horses," he decided and the rest laughed.

They mounted their horses and set out, Anrier's Iron Destroyer rushing ahead to take point.

"How much did it cost to build?"

"Cheaper. About four hundred pieces in total. The chest was about nine hundred pieces. Subsidized though, since they were my test pieces and they were gifted to me by my mentors."

They arrived in his town as the sun dipped below the horizon. The city guards recognized Anrier and came to attention, greeting him by name, some more excitedly than others. Then his brother called out his name and Anrier swung off his horse and was picked up by his brother and swung around then both were knocked off their feet by the Iron Defender. "HOLD!" Anrier yelled and the Iron Defender froze mid-attack.

"Nice toy," he said, pulling Anrier up.

"Sorry Aano. I didn't add you to its friend or foe identifiers. Back in the horse Iron!"

The dog pawed open the chest plate then leapt in to the horse.

"That's amazing," Aano said. He hugged his brother again then set him down and felt the half-elf's shoulders. "You've gained muscle!"

"I put it on fast working the forge. The dragonforge builds muscle faster. In fact, my mentor said I should seek out two or three students from here so that they can train then build another forge here."

"Grandfather will want to hear about this. Now, come, let's get home and open some casks of mead. Grandfather ordered your favorite to be stocked for the wedding."

Anrier remounted and used the ride to introduce the troupe to his brother.

At their home, he introduced them to his sister who looked incredibly nervous about her upcoming nuptials and their mother and father then introduced the troupe to his grandfather who was drinking from a massive stein. "Anrier my boy! Grab a mug and pour yourself some mead, it's the blackhoney!"

Once he had his mead he sat down by his sister and put his arm around her. "Stop looking so worried. It's your intended who has to worry about your brothers."

She smiled at that and kissed his cheek then took his mug. "Hey!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and drank it down quickly.

"You're a little brat Iza!"

A servant brought him another mug of the mead and he kept a better grip on it as he said, "Keep being a brat and you're not gonna get your gift."

"Gift? Gimme! Now, please," she asked, her eyes wide and moist and impossible to say no to once he looked in to them.

He hesitated then nodded. "Fine. Anja?"

The servant came over and he smiled. "Can you go to my horse and touch its nose and whisper this," he asked, gesturing her to lean down. She did so and he told her what to do then she nodded and left to go see to his request.

When she returned, she was warily looking back at the chest following her.

"Ahh! You're doing well as an artificer then!" their grandfather exclaimed upon seeing it. "Beatiful work Anrier!"

Anrier opened the case and took out the ornately carved box. He set it in front of his sister then put his hand on it before she could open it. "Whistle your favorite song."

Iza held her hand up to cover her mouth—Anrier and Aano had used to tease her about how it looked when she whistled, trying to get her to stop whistling—and whistled the first few notes of her favorite song. Birds began singing, muffled by the box.

Anrier moved his hand away and the lid opened on its own. The seven songbirds launched from the case and began orbiting his sister's head and shoulders, singing her favorite song in counterpoint. He'd had to add a three new instruments to it and write the music for them but it had turned out perfectly he believed, especially since his sister was sitting in slack-jawed amazement while others leaned forward, trying to see the mechanical birds easier.

xxxxx

Anrier awoke to his sister and his dog both snuggling up against him. "What are you doing?" he asked.

She yawned as she opened her eyes and started scratching his dog's head. "I came in here to ask you something and it's so warm in here it made me sleepy."

He reached over and scratched his dog's belly as he asked, "Well?"

"Oh, right, you said they can do other songs?"

"Yes. I have to infuse them on to moss agates then you put the moss agates in the seven slots on the case and they'll learn the song but they can only hold three songs aside from your favorite."

"How long does it take to put songs on the agates?"

"A day or so. Go away."

"But it's so warm in here."

"You're not four anymore. Out!"

She pouted then slid out from under his covers and said, "C'mon bitch. Anrier is being bitchy."

His hound ruffed and followed her out as he rolled his eyes and rolled over to see the servant that had come to bed with him was gone. He sat up and stretched then used the basin and pitcher of water to clean himself up then got dressed and broke up the fire in his fireplace and pulled the iron cover down on it so it would die down but not burn out.

He made his way down the halls and settled at the table as the servant he had slept with brought him a plate of food and some watered down mead. She blushed as he pinched her backside.

As he was cutting up the honey cake, his grandmother sat down across from him then his mother joined them. "Well?" his mother asked.

"Well what?" he asked as he sopped up some honey with the honey cake.

"Where are my grandchildren!?"

His grandmother started laughing at the question and his cake falling out of his hand and into his lap.

"You're going to live another two hundred fifty years easily! You can wait a few more years!"

"I won't," his grandmother reminded him. "Give me more great-grandchildren. Two aren't enough."

"Your granddaughter is about to get married! She'll be pregnant within the month. And if he doesn't, well we can find her a real man." Anrier turned around and smirked at his brother-in-law-to-be who was flushing bright red.

"H-hello Anrier. How'd you know I was here?"

"I didn't," he lied. "That's how we always talk about you when you're not around."

Everyone laughed as his mother stood and walked over to pat the man on the shoulders. "He's joking."

"Your brother sent for me?"

"I asked him to," Anrier said and stood, cleaning the cake off his shirt with some mead dipped cloth.

When he was done, Anrier took the weapons display case down from above the fire.

"For you. Unless tonight's wedding doesn't happen. Then I'll hunt you down and either make it happen or kill you. Whichever is easier."

They all laughed again, this time the groom-to-be as well.

"Open it now?" he asked.

Anrier nodded and the younger man opened the case and picked up the blade.

"I know you're a bit of a wuss when it comes to fighting so the magic of the schiavona will cause those you're fighting to submit to your will." People laughed again. His fighting skills were legendary. He had passed everything to join the City Guard then accidentally stabbed Anrier's father during the sword training classes. Every day until Aano failed him out. Now he was a scribe for the queen's court but he still took the sword training classes. As clumsy as he was, he was actually a fairly good swordsman when it was sticking in the right person. They had had to do something unprecedented for training a Northern swordsman: they had made him a wooden sword to train with. "This way if you're hitting the wrong person, you're much less likely to accidentally kill them since they'll submit instead of fighting to the death."

He flushed but laughed as he thanked Anrier.

Anrier grabbed him by the neck and rubbed his head with his knuckles. "Now, go get ready to marry my sister."

He dashed off.

xxxxx

The music swelled and Anrier smiled as his sister turned to smile at him. He stuck his tongue out at her and she fought not to giggle then turned back, a giggle escaping her as the other women lifted up her palanquin.

She reclined, waving at the other Northerners who lined the route to the clearing then those people fell into line behind Anrier and the troupe as they played the traditional tune.

When they arrived, his sister stepped off the palanquin and looked up at the snow coming down then stepped to her spot, smiling so beauteously for half a moment, Anrier was depressed she was his half-sister.

He started the next traditional tune and turned slightly to see where her intended was supposed to arrive. When he did, he smiled at seeing his blade at the young man's side.

He approached their grandfather and asked permission to pay the bride price, a lot more forcefully than Anrier had thought he'd be able to.

Their grandfather decked the young man.

He pulled himself up off the ground and tackled the old man. Anrier leaned forward a bit, trying to see just how the young man would retaliate. His eyebrow went to his hairline nearly when he saw the groom-to-be use the dirty snow to blind the old man then pick up Iza and run for it, the young man's family moving to block Iza's family. His brother and father gave a token fight against the others but a few moments later Iza and her groom were gone and he changed from a traditional tune to a more peppy tune and dancing began, his father dancing with his mother for a song before dancing with his new son-in-law's mother.

Three hours later as the party was reaching its peak, the now married and consummated couple reappeared.

"Think she was a virgin?" one of his troupe asked.

The answer arrived before he could answer he didn't care. His mother and his sister's mother-in-law held up the bloodstained sheets to the semi-shocked cheers of the guests: few Northerner women were virgins at marriage but it did command a hefty bride price. "It appears so." Her husband's family now owed their grandfather an additional four cows and two goats.

His sister came over and hugged him, hiding her face in his chest. "Why did they show that?!"

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Go, dance. People are happy for you and we're gonna play your favorite song. Or sit down, I'm sure you're a bit sore."

She turned even brighter red and hit him repeatedly to the laughter of those nearby.

xxxxx

"Do you really have to leave so soon?" Iza asked. "Please stay!" she pleaded.

"I have to go," Anrier told her and kissed her forehead. "And you need to go make me a nephew and a niece."

She pouted but hugged him nonetheless.

"Now remember, don't raise your hand to him," he told her as her husband came in. "He's a bit of a wimp and you might hurt him."

"I like it when she hurts me," he said and Iza turned bright red and buried her face in Anrier's chest.

"Stop it!"

Both men laughed and Anrier kissed the top of her head then pushed her back and pulled his pack on. "Well, then go abuse your new husband. I'll try to visit again within the year, okay?"

She nodded and let go of him after she pulled him down to kiss his cheek. "Safe travels. Take no prisoners."

"Northerners leave no survivors!" The traditional reply. And untrue. Northerners were more likely to subjugate and enslave an enemy instead of killing them all. Nowadays. In the past Northerners were a White Horde, descending on their victims and taking it all.

Anrier patted his brother-in-law's shoulder then walked out to find his troupe waiting for him. They planned to travel together to the southernmost city to catch the airship back to the southern provinces.

He mounted his horse and smiled as he watched his sister and her husband walk to their new home, a freshly build stone and log cabin in the large territory his family had carved out centuries ago.

He turned to see the two women and one man he had selected to become artificers and they all set off.


	13. Chapter 13

M'Karo sat down in the inn and when the owner set a mug in front of her, she triggered the blade of her left hand and grabbed his hand with her right, digging the blade carefully into his skin directly over the artery in his wrist.

"Hello Skeever. You stopped fencing for the Blackguards, even though we took care of you for years. Now, you can give me the information I need or you can bleed out here in this inn you bought with our gold."

"Wh-who are you?" he whispered, staring at the blood her blade had caused to well up.

"My name doesn't matter but you might remember me. My grandfather and my father treated you like family. You had dinner with my mother and I for a whole month while you were healing and we made the plans to get you somewhere safe with a new face. So, repay your debt? Or die?"

"What do you want?!" exploded out of him.

She looked back at the two men approaching and threw her blade between them. It sunk in to the pillar halfway up he blade. She flipped the second knife out and went back to threatening the man. "Eyes and a gold bow were stolen from a statue in the village south of here. Who did it?"

"I couldn't fence that even if he-" She shoved the knife in and blood sprayed out. He screamed. "MORRIS CLAN! IT WAS A MORRIS CLAN RAIDER! I COULDN'T AFFORD TO FENCE IT! I TOLD HIM TO TRY SOMEONE ELSE!"

"I know what clan he came from. Who is he?!"

"I don't know! He wore an eyepatch and had a hangedman's scar!"

She brought the knife up quickly and gouged a T into his forehead and cheek. "When we find you again, if that scar isn't there, you're a deadman."

He fell to the floor, gibbering in terror as she turned and swept past the two 'heroes,' slowing enough to twist her blade then draw it out.

M'Karo mounted the horse and patted his neck then turned towards the town center. The Mayor would likely have information about raiders in the area.

She slid off the horse in front of the mayor's longhouse and wrapped the reins around a tree limb. She patted the horse's muzzle then walked to the doors but was stopped by a pair of guards. "No admittance."

Killing them, drugging them, or just beating them to the ground as viable choices ran through her mind. She stopped herself and instead said, "Raiders have been seen outside of town!"

They looked at each other then one told her to stay while the other went in to announce her.

She glared at the guard stopping her from her mission.

He returned a few minutes later to allow her in. M'Karo resisted the urge to harm them.

Standing before their mayor, who sat on a throne as if he was a lord, she schooled her face then bowed. "My Lord Mayor, I've been charged by the Paladin Order at Meg's Woods to track down a missing item of theirs." She saw his face drain of blood through her hair but he took a drink to compose himself. As she stood up, she asked, "I've had intelligence that there are raiders operating nearby. I had hoped you may have heard of something. Perhaps woodcutters or hunters have seen clues of strangers nearby?"

His adviser looked like he was about to speak but the mayor did so first. "I have heard nothing of these rumors and do not believe raiders would dare work near my town," he said boastfully but with a tremor in his voice.

She turned, letting him think she believed him, thanking him as she left. Once outside, she mounted the horse and rode south.

When she was a mile down the road and out of sight, M'Karo pulled on her glamour and pulled a skirt and blouse from her bag then put them on over her armor. The glamour made it look as if she wore just the armor and was fully human. She hesitated then patted Fox's muzzle and said, "I'm going to send you back to the Lady's fields. I hope this will call you back like they said it would."

He pressed his muzzle against her cheek then nickered as she stepped back and used the whistle. The stallion seemed to go to its fastest gallop while standing still while lush green grasses and plants appeared around it then it was gone. "Amazing," she breathed.

M'Karo turned back and looked for woodcutters' fires.

xxxxx

She found three woodcutter women sitting around a fire, stirring a meal. When they saw her, they jumped up in surprise. "Where'd you come from girl?"

"Meg's Woods."

"Oh, join us then." They made space on the log they sat on and she smiled, sitting with them.

"How's your cuttings going?" M'Karo asked.

The oldest woman started dishing up meals, offering a bowl to her first. "A little less than that, please, I just ate."

She handed the bowl to another woman and half-filled a second. M'Karo took it with a smile. "Thank you."

"We're doing well, we're making charcoal this month so we've been staying out here, only going back to town when the itch takes us." M'Karo smiled as one of the women blushed at that. "What brings you so far from Meg's Woods?"

"The mayor sent me out to ask some questions. We had a statue vandalized and bits of it stolen. Someone saw a guy with an eyepatch and a neck scar from being hung in town, we hoped he might have seen something as well." She acted a little flighty.

"Hmm," they all seemed to think then shook their heads. "Nothing that I've seen," the apparent leader of the group said. "But there's a rumor of some bandit types passing through the old fort."

They took out a map showing the various woodcutting areas then showed her where the old fort was. "The guards say they see people here every few weeks."

She finished the stew and thanked them then walked off. She believed their tale and walked towards the road. She looked to the sun and guessed she had four hours before sunset so she headed back into the town.

In the inn, she had a disgustingly weak beer her mother wouldn't serve to the pigs and some surprisingly good bread filled with gobs of melted cheese and chunks of spicy sausage.

She gestured over the young girl and asked for another of the buns then asked, "Do you know the recipe for these?"

She nodded. "Do you want it? She charges a silver for the recipe to strangers. Everyone else in town knows it though."

"I'll just take another one for now."

When she returned with it, M'Karo gave the girl two copper pieces then walked out. She'd try to get the recipe from the woodcutters she decided or perhaps the people in Meg's Woods knew when she returned their property.

Outside the town she removed the glamour and blew the whistle: Fox reappeared, running in place then standing beside her, waiting.

Pulling herself up, she patted his neck. "We're heading in to the fight, maybe. We're gonna explore some ruins. Then we're gonna come back to town and torture a mayor." The horse snorted. "He's working with the Morris Clan and they're likely the ones that robbed your people." It nickered this time, seemingly in agreement.

She patted his neck and he set out as she pulled her armor's collar up to keep her neck warm. The air was getting a bit of a chill.

xxxxx

She swung her leg off the horse and looped his reins to a tree. Then realized she should send him to the fields. Then realized she might need him quickly. "I'll be back soon I hope. If I don't, head on back to the Paladins so they can alert the clan I'm dead."

He whinnied softly.

M'Karo took her mother's black sash off and twisted her hair up into a knot then wrapped the sash so that her eyes were the only thing visible.

She made her way to the ruins, moving in the shadows, her eyes defocused so she would see movement instead of searching for man shapes.

Four hours later she made her way into the main building and found it had been repaired on the inside but left to look like a ruin on the outside.

She could smell wood burning and food cooking and wondered how they hid the smoke outside.

Keeping to the shadows, she moved carefully, listening, probing, checking nooks and crannies for traps, marking occasional spots on her mental map where she needed to investigate.

She found shadows moving on the wall and began edging along it, moving slowly until she could see who two men wearing shoddy boiled armor, one eating, the other working a forge on the other side of the room.

Which one will be more knowledgable, she wondered as she watched.

M'Karo decided to go for a more dangerous plan and moved forward, flicking her knives out.

She came up behind the one eating and slammed the pommel of the blade in to the back of his skull, making the man slam forward into the table.

The man working the forge called out, "You better not be eating my dinner Caro!"

M'Karo began to close the distance and the second person turned. "Car—FUCK!"

M'Karo crossed the room quicker than he could draw the sword lying on the table next to him and shoved his head towards the forge. "One of your clan stole from a nearby village. Tell me where to find it. Or I shove your head in the coals."

When he told her what she should do, M'Karo shoved his head in to the coals then back out as he screamed in pain. "The next time I hold you down. Where are the eyes and bow?"

He told her what she should do to herself. M'Karo shoved his head back in to the coals and wrinkled her nose at the smell but enjoyed his screaming until the superheated air caused his lungs to sear. She dropped him on the ground and let him die trying to scream as she turned to other person. She tied him to the chair then threw water in his face repeatedly until he came to.

"Your friend is dying. You're next unless I get the information I want."

"Wh-what do you want?" he whispered, staring at his friend's slowly slowing writhing body.

"One of your clan stole from a city nearby. The golden bow and the stone eyes of a statue. They would like it back."

"Statson stole it! IT WAS STATSON!" he screamed as she caressed his eye with her knife.

"Where can I find him?"

"I DON'T KNOW! HE GOT KICKED OUT!"

"Why?" she asked as she drew blood and showed it to him on the tip of the blade before wiping it off on his sash.

He shrugged. "I DON'T KNOW. I SWEAR."

"Where would he go?"

"He said he grew up in Kathbum. Talked about opening an inn there a lot!"

M'Karo decided that was probably as much as she was going to get out of him. "When do your buddies get back here?"

"Not for another two weeks. We're just the caretakers."

She stabbed his throat and smiled at the whistling sound the blood made as it sprayed. A fluting stroke, she thought. Dad'll be proud.

She spent the next few hours triffling the place, moving around their traps and triggers and found a few potions and eighty gold then found a well-hidden door when she was in the largest single occupancy room.

When she got it open after some fiddling and lots of curses and oaths, she resolved to take some advanced picking lessons.

The the door opened and she grinned. She began stuffing the jewelry and gold pieces and small artwork pieces in to her bag.

She ended up having to find a tray to put under her bag so she could drag it outside then blew the whistle twice to dismiss then summon the horse, hoping it wouldn't annoy him. It didn't seem to since it greeted her much like her own pony had used to before it died.

"Sorry about that but I looted a lot of stuff and it was too heavy for me to carry." She spent forty minutes divvying the loot up in his saddlebags then pulled herself up. "Hope this isn't too heavy."

The horse looked back at her, snorted as if she was insane, then went to a gallop when she urged him forward, seemingly showing off how strong he was.

She sent the horse back to the fields and took a room at the inn, holing up inside it until evening came around again, cleaning herself up and cleaning the blood off her armor. She waited until the new moon was at its highest point then slipped out of the window of her room.

She slipped amongst the shadows of the city until she saw the mayor's long cabin. M'Karo used fey step to move from where she was to the shadows cast by the eaves of the roof and looked in to see the mayor sleeping fitfully. She made sure her scarf covered her face properly then teased the window open and stepped inside, slipping her knives out.

M'Karo leapt on the bed, landing, straddling his chest and held her knife at his eye as her other hand covered his mouth. "Yell and die. Understand me?"

He nodded and she took the hand off his mouth then whispered, "What are your dealings with the Morris clan?"

"They pay me to look the other way so they can camp in the ruins!" he whispered urgently.

"Where's what they pay you?"

"Under the bed!"

She slammed her knives in to his temples, drew them out and wiped them on his bedding, then looked under the bed and found three sacks of platinum pieces and small works of art. Tying them together, she set them by the window then cased the rest of the place, cleaning out another fifteen hundred gold pieces worth of small items that were likely stolen from travelers by Morris Clan raiders.

She silently made her way back upstairs, put the items in her bag, then fey stepped again, this time on to a roof across from the building. She leapt off it into a pile of hay and wrinkled her nose at the smell of the moldering straw then made her way out of town.


	14. Chapter 14

Sanra found Curbstomp trapped in a bush and approached her slowly, whispering until the horse was calmed. She got the horse free and asked, "Where's Meg?"

The horse blew hot breath in her face and scowled then pulled herself up on to the horse. "Take me to her. Come along Jenny!"

The pony fell into a gallop to keep up with Curbstomp's very quick canter.

"It's a shame you can't talk," she told the horse.

He took her along the path to the battlefield and she saw the dead flayer and almost hidden by it, Meg's body. Sanra slid off the horse and ran to her friend as Curbstomp rushed to the Illithid and began stomping on it.

Sanra felt her friend's neck then began undoing her armor so she could check her friend over better.

She gasped when she saw her friend's ribs were all broken and some pushing out of the body. She cast a healing spell to get her friend closer to healthy then began manipulating the ribs back into place. Sanra tore her robes apart and began wrapping her friend's chest and cast more healing spells.

"Corellon, please, I beg of you, grant me the great power needed to save my friend. She serves you even greater than I ever will!"

She spent the next hour casting spells and expelling every bit of energy in her own body getting the last of the foul humours that had built up in her friend out. Their clothes were stained with puss, blood, and sweat by the time Meg came back to consciousness.

"Sanra?" she said softly.

"Thank Corellon!" she said softly. "Do you think you can stand?"

"What is Curbstomp doing?" she asked, her eyes still blocked by dried blood.

"He's, uh, he's turning the mind flayer into paste."

"Well get him over here so I can pull myself up onto him. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine you idiot," she said, tears dripping down her face.

Sanra got the warpony to stop mutilating the corpse then helped her friend get up on it. "Is everything I collected on the sled?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes.

"I guess so? Some armor sets. Lots of weapons. Want me to see if there's anything on the illithid or those other two warriors over there?"

"They're dark paladins and no, I can come back when I'm fully healed."

Sanra rolled her eyes at that then pulled herself up on her pony.

The ride back to Meg's Woods was long and Sanra had to cast numbing spells a handful of times when the ride became too much for her friend.

When they arrived, paladins helped get their number down and her mother and sisters rushed to help her. Sanra followed them in to the temple where she was laid on a table and her mother began undoing the bandages Sanra had done, listening to Sanra's hurried—but detailed—explanation of what she had done to save her friend's life.

Sanra's mother came in and handed her daughter a mug of spiced wine and moved her to sit by the fire. "Rest, we'll do what's needed to save Meg."

She nodded and took a long drink of the wine, a smile flitting across her lips for a moment. She could tell it was her father's favorite wine, something he'd be angry about being mulled.

When Sanra was awoken later, she saw her's and Meg's mothers running their hands over Meg's ribs. She walked over and asked, "Did I get all her bones set properly?"

"We had to reset two of her ribs but you got it close enough we could have left it," Meg's mother said.

"Go home. She'll be fine. Could be awake tomorrow but likely not."

Sanra started to protest but her mother guided her out. "Go!"

xxxxx

Meg opened her eyes and saw her next oldest sister leaning over her. "Morning."

"M-morning," Meg replied. "How did I get back? Did I pass my humbling?"

"Sanra came and found you and got you back. Don't you remember?"

"No."

"You WERE in a lot of pain. As for the Humbling, I don't know."

She kissed Meg's forehead. "Go back to sleep Meggy, you're still healing."


	15. Chapter 15

He awoke to find himself tied to a pole, wood all over the ground and the smell of liquor heavy in the air. "Wha-?"

M'Karo stepped in front of him and smiled, caressing his cheek with her blade. "Hello there. I've been sent to teach you a lesson. Stealing from Paladins? Bad idea. Now, where are the eyes and the bow?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

She stabbed his shoulder and he screamed in pain.

"I'm sorry, you were mumbling. Where. Are. They?"

He told her to go to hell. M'Karo cut a finger off his hand and smiled at his screaming. "Thank you," she told him. "Father taught me how to torture someone but I never thought I'd get a chance to try it myself."

When he saw her smile he wet himself. She looked down and saw his trousers had darkened and the smell filled the air, covering the smell of the liquor.

"Where?"

"My bag, my bag. I melted down the gold but the eyes are still in it!"

She checked the bag then carefully wrapped the eyes in the ribbon from the girl, noticing one had been chipped then saw the gold had been formed into three shuriken sized bricks.

She tucked them in to her armor and turned to walk away. "Let me go!" he screamed when he realized she had no plan to.

"I'll let the flames release you." She threw a lantern at the wood around his feet and the alcohol dousing the wood went up quickly. She ignored his screams as she pulled herself up on Fox. He seemed to look at her with a slightly disappointed look in his warm brown eyes until she held out a carrot for him. "Let's get on back."

She looked back at the pyre of flame and shuddered. For the time she had been doing it, adrenaline had kept her from feeling it but now she was disgusted with her actions. She took a long drink of water, hoping it might settle her stomach.

xxxxx

After four days of riding she came into the village of Meg's Woods and saw the mayor walking with a young human that looked vaguely like his wife. She assumed it was his daughter and wondered why the woman was using a pair of canes to support herself as she walked.

As she rode up to the two, a gnome wearing the robes of a cleric walked up to the pair as the Mayor noticed her riding up. He kissed both female's foreheads then walked towards her. "You've found them already?"

"Aye. He melted the gold down and made it into these," she said, tossing him the three bars one at a time. "And I've got the eyes here. One is chipped a bit though." She handed that over carefully.

He examined the stones then tucked them into his pocket and pulled a pair of small apples from his pocket. "Hello Fox. The grandmaster passed away last night," he told M'Karo. "Keep the horse. He's a good fighter, he'll be a good friend. Our smiths will repair your gear if you damaged anything and if you've found some loot and want to sell it, our various smiths will be happy to do you a fair deal."

She hesitated, wanting to get home as soon as possible but decided to take them up on their offer. He helped her carry her saddlebags to his home and set her up in their honored room then he introduced the two he had been walking with. "This is my youngest daughter Meg, a newly Humbled Paladin and her friend, Sanra, a cleric."

M'Karo hesitated then asked, "Humbled?"

"It means I fought someone bigger and stronger and survived but got smacked around enough to understand power. Those that pass are accepted into the order fully. Those that fail usually die. Or become clerics," she teased Sanra.

A servant announced it was time for the evening meal and M'Karo found herself sitting down with them for it. She found the concept of such a large family—and a mother in such incredible shape after nine children—to be amazing.

When the Mayor asked, "Did you find it difficult to find the items?"

One of his older daughters' husband asked, "Tell us the whole thing!"

"Uh, all of it? Much of what I did wasn't really meal safe."

"After then," their mother said. "More wine?"

Afterwards she was handed a mug of mead and they all settled in to listen.

M'Karo found herself standing before the fireplace and asked, "Do you want the full on everything or the safe version."

"The full on," Sanra said. "We've all seen the darkest things people have done. No one here will judge you," she said, the most intuitive of the group, seeing the half-eladrin was nervous about how she would be judged.

She took a long drink then began telling them the whole tale.

The mayor asked for clarifications but no one seemed to be disgusted by her acts of torture.

At the end they all clapped, most of the husbands standing as they did so.

"I really like the 'I'll let the flames release you' bit," one said excitedly as his wife rolled her eyes.

xxxxx

M'Karo finished packing her bags and stretched. She had stayed in Meg's Woods for nearly two weeks, watching the eyes get reshaped and the bow reformed as well as somehow getting talked into helping Meg with her rehab. Three days into her stay Meg had set aside her canes and had taken her hammer back up.

She had been incredibly violent against the ghouls that infested the area around the village but had been very interested in M'Karo's fighting style and had watched the half-eladrin then suggested a few things and M'Karo had been surprised to see they were effective suggestions, at least against the slow-moving ghouls they trained on.

There was a knock on her door and she crossed to open it as she put her bag on her shoulders.

"Oh, you're leaving now?" Sanra asked.

"Yeah, I need to get home."

"Here, for you. It's the chip they had to remove from the eyes set in gold left over from the remold."

M'Karo accepted the ring and thanked the gnome. She smiled back then went to find Meg.

She admired the ring. The chip had been reshaped into a smaller eye shape then set into a ring with a eye shape to it. Cute, she thought. Slipping it on to her thumb, she ran her index finger over the eye and stretched again.

As she started to walk out, feeling slightly guilty for not trying to steal anything one of the servants rushed up with a large bag. "Food for you for your trip home."

"Thank you."

She felt even guiltier for thinking about stealing from this village. They weren't anything like the priests she had cleaned out as a youngster.

As she was putting her saddlebags on Fox, Meg walked up to her. "I just wanted to say safe trip. I just got told I've been elected the next mayor. I'll take over in ten years or whenever my father passes away, whichever comes first but until then I plan to do some adventuring and wondered if you might be interested in joining me? I won't be leaving for a year or so since I have some Paladin oriented trials left but if you're interested, send me a letter."

M'Karo nodded. "I'll think about it."

Meg smiled and walked off, stopping to pet a goat that walked up to her.

"Oh," she called out. "In a nearby village, I tried some amazing cheese and sausage filled bread. Anyone around here know that recipe?"

Megt turned around and smiled. "Everyone does. It's a regional delicacy. Ask my mom, she has scrolls of all the variants. My favorite is flatter with crushed tomatoes and fried, sliced mushrooms on it."

M'Karo went to ask about it.


	16. Chapter 16

M'Karo rode into town and turned the horse towards the secret entrance for horses. Fox looked nervous until the wall they approached disappeared and the metal spikes on the ground descended back into it. The horse picked his feet, finding the spots that were firmest.

Inside, a thief guard smiled at her and bowed. "Welcome home padfoot."

"Thanks auntie."

"Beautiful horse. Who'd you steal it from?"

"The paladins gave her to me. She was their grandmasters but he passed away. They're so nice there! I only thought about stealing from them and felt so guilty."

The guard helped her take the saddle bags off and whistled for a runner. A thief-in-training appeared and helped M'Karo carry her items to her grandfather's table in front of the fire. He was fast asleep and M'Karo hesitated then decided to wake him. She dropped the saddlebags on the table and he came awake, his blades in his hands, ready for battle. Every other person in the tavern began clapping and laughed as their grandmaster glared at them.

She took off the ring, set down the whistle, then dumped the bags of treasure she had made.

"We have a fence here," he teased her. "You didn't have to wake me."

She laughed and sat on his lap, hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek then sat down across from him. He began looking through her loot, separating out pieces that had no gems on them.

He made a gesture and two thieves-in-training came over and carried the gold and silver items to the secret entrance to her father's goldsmith.

He looked at the bracers she had stripped off her target. "Reek of magic."

She nodded. "Why I took them. Can you tell what they do?"

"No. But Arazoa is visiting. She should be able to tell."

He set them aside and and picked up a small loose blue gem. "Pretty. You should set this in a circlet for your mother. Her birthday is coming up."

He picked up another gem, this one was gold colored. "Ahh, a canary diamond. Lovely. Keep this one for yourself, maybe replace that diamond you have in your navel since it's got so many occlusions."

He pushed both towards her then took a pouch off his belt and began stacking platinum discs in front of her. When he was done, her payment for the job was the original 115 gold pieces and another 785 gold pieces for the fenced loot.

He gestured her over and kissed her forehead then said, "Go on little one."

She grabbed up the two gems, her money, and the gloves then went to find Arazoa, the Blackguard enchanter.

She found the old woman in the guest quarters and said, "Hello aunty."

The woman turned and smiled. "M'Karo! Good to see you. Oh, what are those?"

"Gauntlets I stripped off someone. I could tell they had something about them but I wasn't sure what."

Arazoa took them from M'Karo and set them on her portable enchanting table. She took out a small jeweler's loupe and began examining the metallic threads that made up the designs on it.

"Hmmm, it's an interesting design but not as effective as it could be. For two hundred gold I can destroy those and put the magic into a better pair that will be more effective."

"What do the bracers DO aunty!?"

She turned, smiling. "Oh, right, yes. These summon a bow or a crossbow and a quiver of ammunition for the weapon. These will only summon the weapon for a limited time, perhaps two hours. I can redo it so they stay summoned for a full day with a once-a-day limit unlike these bracer's once-a-week limit. Two hundred gold. And I can use the bracers that are part of your armor now."

"Oh. Yes, please!" M'Karo handed over the gold.

"I'll have them for you tomorrow, dinnertime."

"Okay aunty." She hugged the older woman then went off to see her father at the goldsmith.

When she walked in, her father smiled at her and winked then turned back to helping Lady Dia Manya.

When the woman saw it was M'Karo she smiled and said, "Hello Miss Amber."

"Good afternoon Lady Dia Manya. How are you?"

The woman at first said fine then went off on a tangent about her latest aches. M'Karo listened politely until the woman went back to talking to her father. She slipped into the back and looked around then found the goldsmith she wanted. "Nino."

"Hello M'Karo. What's up?"

"I need a new navel ring made from this diamond."

He took it from her and looked at it with his loupe. "Lovely, no occlusions, easily five hundred gold for this." He set it down in a small velvet lined box and labeled it with her name then took out a sheet of sheepskin and drew its dimensions on the skin as he measured it and counted its facets. When they were done, he put the box into the small chest that made up the back of the workspace he was at then took out some drawings of navel rings. "take a look at these and we can start making a mockup of the design you want."

As she looked through them he took out a small hunk of glass and began cutting it into the same shape as the diamond.

She gasped and he looked at the design she was looking at. "Oh, that one is a custom job for Sir Morris's wife."

"I like it I just worry what would happen if that chain got tugged on."

"I think that's the point," he said and she looked at him in surprise then giggled.

"I like it," she decided. "But I don't want those on it. Just the chain that goes around the waist connected to the navel ring."

"Easily enough done. What kind of chain?"

"The same as the sketch but for the small eternity symbols I want those in gold and the longer ones that black gold daddy is always going on about."

"Oooh, big price hike there."

"I can afford it," she told him and he nodded.

"I may not be able to make it then, your father is very particular about who uses the black gold in crafting since it comes from the Rochound Dwarf clan." He was only able to get one eight ounce bar a year and had stockpiled it for the past twenty years.

"Well, if he won't let you make it, I want an omega circlet with this dangling from it for my mom's birthday. If daddy won't let you do the chain you can do this one with white gold."

He put the gem in another box and wrote down on it her name and what was to be done then turned when he heard her father walk into the work area.

"Sir."

He took the sketch paper Nino was working on. "Hmm, new chain for your waist? Your mother has a—black gold? I'll be making this to make sure there's no wastage."

"I was gonna ask you to make that circlet father. For mother's birthday."

"Nino has the skill for that. The gems?"

Nino took them out and held them up for her father. He admired them then said, "Put the canary diamond on my workspace then you can clean up and take the rest of today off after we do a design plan. Tomorrow you'll get started on the circlet. I'll do some rings for it so that you can have black at the point where it meets on either side of the dangle for the gem then they'll fade to gold at her hairline. Should look nice. And you," he finished, turning to his daughter. "Go see your mother, she's been worried about you."

He kissed her cheek and shoved her towards the door, making her laugh.


	17. Chapter 17

"Busy Anrier?"

He looked up from his sketches. "Not really, just sketching out a guitar that will play itself."

His mentor sat across from him. "Have time for your Journeyman piece?"

"You have one you want me to to make?" Normally Journeyman chose their own pieces when they felt ready but Masters could assign pieces themselves.

"Yes. The village of Meg's Woods have commissioned sentient weapons for their gates, able to detect the darkness inherent in beings."

Anrier nodded thoughtfully then took out a new scroll and began making sketches. His mentor watched the quill as Anrier worked and nodded at the various designs.

He patted Anrier on the shoulder as he stood. "Shouldn't take you more than six months. Master Imma will come along to evaluate and grade. Safe trip, I've just learned my first granddaughter has been born so I'll be off to see my family or I'd have come along."

"Congratulations sir."

He nodded and left the room, humming a children's tune.

Anrier put the notes away and went to his room to pack for the trip as he studied his map. He found the settlement and nodded. Far enough that he'd have to pay for a portal use or take a airship or a ship. Let Imma choose, he decided as he put his travel pack down. His wright stepped out of the shadows. "Where to boss?"

"Take it down to the horse, make sure it and the Iron Defender are ready. Ad you better gather up everything actually and put it all in the horse. I may not be coming back right away."

"Got it boss."

Anrier watched his homunculus assistant speedily pack up everything in the room then set off to the horse, hollowed by his trunk.

He set his room key on the mantelpiece in case someone else needed the room and walked out fo the room only to walk into and knock down Imma. He immediately helped the dragonborn woman up. "I'm so sorry!"

She laughed and patted his cheek. "Don't worry about it, I'm not that old yet." She peeked inside his room. "He told you?"

He nodded. "How're we getting there? Portal, boat, or airship?"

"Portal to the coast, boat up the river, then ride the rest of the way south. Should take about two weeks on the boat and a few days riding."

He nodded and she told him she'd meet him at the stable after dinner then she walked off. He went to make his goodbyes to the other Artificers.


	18. Chapter 18

M'Karo rode into town and turned the horse towards the secret entrance for horses. Fox looked nervous until the wall they approached disappeared and the metal spikes on the ground descended back into it. The horse picked his feet, finding the spots that were firmest.

Inside, a thief guard smiled at her and bowed. "Welcome home padfoot."

"Thanks auntie."

"Beautiful horse. Who'd you steal it from?"

"The paladins gave her to me. She was their grandmasters but he passed away. They're so nice there! I only thought about stealing from them and felt so guilty."

The guard helped her take the saddle bags off and whistled for a runner. A thief-in-training appeared and helped M'Karo carry her items to her grandfather's table in front of the fire. He was fast asleep and M'Karo hesitated then decided to wake him. She dropped the saddlebags on the table and he came awake, his blades in his hands, ready for battle. Every other person in the tavern began clapping and laughed as their grandmaster glared at them.

She took off the ring, set down the whistle, then dumped the bags of treasure she had made.

"We have a fence here," he teased her. "You didn't have to wake me."

She laughed and sat on his lap, hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek then sat down across from him. He began looking through her loot, separating out pieces that had no gems on them.

He made a gesture and two thieves-in-training came over and carried the gold and silver items to the secret entrance to her father's goldsmith.

He looked at the bracers she had stripped off her target. "Reek of magic."

She nodded. "Why I took them. Can you tell what they do?"

"No. But Arazoa is visiting. She should be able to tell."

He set them aside and and picked up a small loose blue gem. "Pretty. You should set this in a circlet for your mother. Her birthday is coming up."

He picked up another gem, this one was gold colored. "Ahh, a canary diamond. Lovely. Keep this one for yourself, maybe replace that diamond you have in your navel since it's got so many occlusions."

He pushed both towards her then took a pouch off his belt and began stacking platinum discs in front of her. When he was done, her payment for the job was the original 115 gold pieces and another 785 gold pieces for the fenced loot.

He gestured her over and kissed her forehead then said, "Go on little one."

She grabbed up the two gems, her money, and the gloves then went to find Arazoa, the Blackguard enchanter.

She found the old woman in the guest quarters and said, "Hello aunty."

The woman turned and smiled. "M'Karo! Good to see you. Oh, what are those?"

"Gauntlets I stripped off someone. I could tell they had something about them but I wasn't sure what."

Arazoa took them from M'Karo and set them on her portable enchanting table. She took out a small jeweler's loupe and began examining the metallic threads that made up the designs on it.

"Hmmm, it's an interesting design but not as effective as it could be. For two hundred gold I can destroy those and put the magic into a better pair that will be more effective."

"What do the bracers DO aunty!?"

She turned, smiling. "Oh, right, yes. These summon a bow or a crossbow and a quiver of ammunition for the weapon. These will only summon the weapon for a limited time, perhaps two hours. I can redo it so they stay summoned for a full day with a once-a-day limit unlike these bracer's once-a-week limit. Two hundred gold. And I can use the bracers that are part of your armor now."

"Oh. Yes, please!" M'Karo handed over the gold.

"I'll have them for you tomorrow, dinnertime."

"Okay aunty." She hugged the older woman then went off to see her father at the goldsmith.

When she walked in, her father smiled at her and winked then turned back to helping Lady Dia Manya.

When the woman saw it was M'Karo she smiled and said, "Hello Miss Amber."

"Good afternoon Lady Dia Manya. How are you?"

The woman at first said fine then went off on a tangent about her latest aches. M'Karo listened politely until the woman went back to talking to her father. She slipped into the back and looked around then found the goldsmith she wanted. "Nino."

"Hello M'Karo. What's up?"

"I need a new navel ring made from this diamond."

He took it from her and looked at it with his loupe. "Lovely, no occlusions, easily five hundred gold for this." He set it down in a small velvet lined box and labeled it with her name then took out a sheet of sheepskin and drew its dimensions on the skin as he measured it and counted its facets. When they were done, he put the box into the small chest that made up the back of the workspace he was at then took out some drawings of navel rings. "take a look at these and we can start making a mockup of the design you want."

As she looked through them he took out a small hunk of glass and began cutting it into the same shape as the diamond.

She gasped and he looked at the design she was looking at. "Oh, that one is a custom job for Sir Morris's wife."

"I like it I just worry what would happen if that chain got tugged on."

"I think that's the point," he said and she looked at him in surprise then giggled.

"I like it," she decided. "But I don't want those on it. Just the chain that goes around the waist connected to the navel ring."

"Easily enough done. What kind of chain?"

"The same as the sketch but for the small eternity symbols I want those in gold and the longer ones that black gold daddy is always going on about."

"Oooh, big price hike there."

"I can afford it," she told him and he nodded.

"I may not be able to make it then, your father is very particular about who uses the black gold in crafting since it comes from the Rochound Dwarf clan." He was only able to get one eight ounce bar a year and had stockpiled it for the past twenty years.

"Well, if he won't let you make it, I want an omega circlet with this dangling from it for my mom's birthday. If daddy won't let you do the chain you can do this one with white gold."

He put the gem in another box and wrote down on it her name and what was to be done then turned when he heard her father walk into the work area.

"Sir."

He took the sketch paper Nino was working on. "Hmm, new chain for your waist? Your mother has a—black gold? I'll be making this to make sure there's no wastage."

"I was gonna ask you to make that circlet father. For mother's birthday."

"Nino has the skill for that. The gems?"

Nino took them out and held them up for her father. He admired them then said, "Put the canary diamond on my workspace then you can clean up and take the rest of today off after we do a design plan. Tomorrow you'll get started on the circlet. I'll do some rings for it so that you can have black at the point where it meets on either side of the dangle for the gem then they'll fade to gold at her hairline. Should look nice. And you," he finished, turning to his daughter. "Go see your mother, she's been worried about you."

He kissed her cheek and shoved her towards the door, making her laugh.


	19. Chapter 19

Anrier slid off his horse and fell backwards into the thickly piled boughs. "Ahhh," he murmured softly.

"Iron, wake me when the sun reaches the top of the sky." He pulled a bough over his head and was quickly asleep.

His Iron Defender, horse, and his trunk circled where he lay, scaring off the occasional animal that got too close.

When the sun reached the top of the sky, the Iron Defender awoke him by grabbing his leg and shaking it.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" he called out then extricated his trouser's from the construct's sharp teeth.

Anrier made his last bit of meat and some bread into a sandwich then drained the last of his water from his skin. He pulled himself up on his horse and pulled his shirt off. It was very hot, even for him.

Nearing the village, two paladins on horseback rode past, nodding to him as they followed a pack of hounds sniffing along a trail.

Anrier thought about asking to join them since he missed a good hound hunt but continued on towards the village.

As he got close enough, he saw the ghouls in the pen and wondered about that.

A pair of paladins rode out towards him.

"You the artificer?" one called out as he got close enough to hear.

"Aye."

"Follow us then, lad. The mayor's out on a ride with his falcon."

They admired his constructs on the ride and he asked about their defense needs.

"What's with the ghouls?" he asked after absorbing the minimal information they gave.

"Our order fought here long ago. We won but were badly depleted. Our last few remaining paladins decided to rebuild here, retaking the land lost to darkness. We're in a standing battle. No matter what we do, the darkness here stands fast. The ghouls appear. They're not our dead. We burn our dead. We check the grounds constantly for unmarked graves. They keep coming back. So we use them for training. One of our first rites of passage is killing a ghoul."

Anrier nodded. His family's rite of passage had him kill a dire elk with a spear. Then his grandfather had painted Anrier's face with the blood and Anrier had bitten into the elk's still beating heart to the laughter of everyone. He then found out no one actually did that.

He sulked a bit but ate the liver after his grandfather took a bite of it.

"There he is," one of the paladins said.

Anrier saw a blur of movement then the scream of a rabbit as it was caught by a falcon.

"Mayor," one of the paladins said. "This is Anrier, the artificer."

"Welcome, lad," the barrel chested man said as he took the rabbit from the falcon and laid it with the others on his saddle. "You're a few days early or I'd have met you at the airship myself."

"Good winds," Anrier told him. "I've had a bit of a look at the area, your issues with darkness, and the way you've got your defenses setup and I've got a few ideas."

"Good, good. Go on and lead him back to town. We've got a workshop setup for you and you can finish touring the village and the abbey and monastery."

Anrier pinned the design up on the wall and turned when he heard his door open. The mayor, his wife, and the head of the paladins entered the office. He nodded to them. "Good timing. I just finished the designs and the costing."

"Good, then we'll have lunch first. After we eat, we can start arranging for anything you need delivered."

Anrier pulled on his greatcoat and followed them out of the office. His Iron Defender stood, ready to follow him but Anrier waved the beast off. It spun around three times then settled in like a real dog.

"Aside from the armor plating, it acts like a real dog," Big Meg said.

"When I was creating him I thought about everything my dogs did when I was young."

"So it humps legs?" the mayor said, laughing.

"No, Dogs only do that to people they know are submissive to them," Anrier told him.

Everyone began laughing when the mayor realized what that meant. He began laughing himself and thumped Anrier on the back, knocking the younger half-elf forward.

After the meal was through, Anrier led them around the city, village, showing them how he planned to outfit their gates with magazine fed ballistae, holy fire wands, catapults launching glass cylinders of holy water, and spikes in the walkways that would extend upwards at the speed of bow shot when dark creatures were detected.

"I can also setup wands that can fire various spells used by your people. It's a bit more expensive."

"We'll put together a committee," Big Meg said. "Figure out what spells to use. What do we need to start ordering in?"

Anrier pulled a roll of parchment from his greatcoat and handed it over, using the submissive stance of open palms with the roll laying atop them. He had found they were more accepting of the massive costs if he acted submissively.

She looked at it and raised an eyebrow. Her husband took it and looked it over. "Looks fair. Let's get you together with my eldest and her husband, they're in charge of the tradings."

Big Meg led Anrier to her eldest's house then went home.

Anrier shook the man's hand and waited as he took out dozens of scrolls and began collating what they had in supplies versus what would need to be hewn, cut, or gathered and bought.

"The silverboll wood, does it need to be seasoned?"

"The greener the better actually," Anrier told him. "The sooner life has been in the wood the stronger the life in the construct."

"We'll send out a party for it then, saving our supplies for building. What about the stone?"

"Any will do but the lighter the color the better."

"Most of our stock is white. Our quarry is limestone. It can be pretty easily shaped and bored using our most common crop."

"Most common crop?"

"Limes," he said, smirking. "We export about sixty thousand tons of preserved limes a year."

Limes and limestone," Anrier said, nodding. "Works for me."

They spent the next hour working out timetables for raw component harvesting and preparing orders for materials from other villages they traded with then Anrier went back to his workshop and settled on to the mattress.

When Anrier awoke the next morning, he found a large breakfast waiting for him on his worktable. He settled in to eat, making a list of what to begin work on, what he could safely delegate to the local craftsmen, what he had to do himself, then how much time it was going to take to complete each piece, then the list of startup items.

He turned to his chest and snapped his fingers. "Forge."

It opened and revealed a stack of components and his tools for working a forge. Anrier began pulling them out. "We've gotta build a forge here."

The chest shivered in what seemed like excitement to Anrier.

When he stepped out the back door, he found someone had stacked up the various items he would need to build a forge.

"Nice. Let's get started."

His luggage began flattening down the ground and he sang a work ditty oriented towards the harvest, one he remembered singing with his family when they helped with the harvests back home. The luggage followed the music's rhythm, dance moves leaking into its movement.

Anrier clapped along until the luggage was done then began placing the bottom layer of stones.

By the time the afternoon bells began to toll he had a three foot tall, fifteen by fifteen foot base for his forge completed. He maneuvered the sheet of cold iron out of his luggage and got it in place then shoved the nine pins down the blocks, holding them and the cold iron grate in place. He decided to build up two more layers of bricks then began heaping dirt up around the stone. Anrier placed the bellows pump on the ground and covered it with its protective box then went inside and found his lunch delivered again and the plates for his breakfast gone. He wrote thank you on a scrap of parchment then ate his lunch before heading back to the forge to finish it.

He built a stand of logs and used a chain to pull his anvil out of his luggage. It shook itself, seeming to be glad to be rid of the weight.

"Blood hunt is next," he said to himself. He had thought about bringing blood but magic imbued blood didn't travel well and the paladins had forests full of demonic creatures.

He maneuvered the anvil onto a thick stump then pulled out a square edge. He was somewhat shocked to find the anvil and stump were perfectly level then saw just how much work had been done to make it so before he had even arrived. It wasn't ground on which the stump sat but a thin layer of dirt on top of a layer of bricks.

With his area mostly set up, he began pulling out the bag of evercoals he had made for this trip alone. If he found someone worthy of becoming an artificer here, he'd leave the coals for him to work with when he returned from training as an artificer.

Anrier dumped them into the forge and began mixing the cement to hold the bricks in place. He troweled it into place and made sure the box holding his bellows was cemented into place as well.

He left it to cure with the evercoals lit and went for a walk through the village, chatting with the various craftsmen he came across, surprised to find all were also trained as paladins or clerics and in a battle could field over 9000 paladins, nearly 4000 clerics, and 6000-some warriors from surrounding villages with 500 battlemages trained by the nearby wizard. His own home village could field 25,000 barbarians and another 10,000 skalds and he wondered how they would fair in battle against these people, though an alliance was more likely than a battle since both were allied to the Imperials.

He went to get his horse and decided to take a ride out among the woods and see if he could find any creatures.


	20. Chapter 20

Meg stretched and admired her nude reflection in the water. She and Sanra had been bathing in the lake and now Sanra was dressing while Meg looked at the scars that she had decided not to do anything about.

"Will you get dressed?! Yes, you're in wonderful shape! I'm hungry!"

She laughed and turned then grabbed the tunic and trousers she had worn. Once she had her boots on, she took to a run. "First one home gets the bread heels!"

Sanra ran after her, cursing her as a cheat all while Meg laughed.

When they arrived back at the village, Meg's older sisters' husbands were stacking the firewood for the night's festivities. Meg stuck her tongue out at Ken who had teasingly chastised her for being unladylike then she went inside followed by a extremely out of breath gnome who cursed her in gnomish this time.

Their mothers set them both to setting the table for lunch then Meg was ordered to go dress properly. She came back out wearing her new dress and her mother smiled. "I told you you would look wonderful in it."

"I knew I would, I just wanted to wear my armor today. Father gets to wear his."

Big Meg glared at her daughter and Little Meg's small rebellion quelled.

"I'll do your makeup," Sanra offered and Meg nodded. They went back to her room and Sanra ground the powders finely to prepare them while Meg tried not to look bored or impatient. She liked wearing makeup, she just didn't like the time it took and understood why her mother had saved and saved as a young woman to afford a glamour that made it look like she was wearing makeup while wearing the small fetish.

Sanra took up the kohl stick and shaded Meg's eyes then used her thumb and some spit to dampen it before using the stick again to get the design she wanted.

The gnome then took the red powder and carefully dusted her friend's cheeks before taking the finely ground sapphire. "Wet your lips."

Meg did as told and Sanra put the ground gem on her lips then used a transparent wax to hold the dust in place. She looked in the mirror and smiled.

"Do mine now," Sanra exclaimed before Meg could thank her.

Meg did Sanra's makeup then her lips with powdered emeralds then rushed to join the others when the bells began to ring. For the next four days the paladins-in-training would do mock battles, re-enacting the old fights while the full paladins judged them.

Meg watched her cousins closest. While she was now a full paladin, she wasn't judging them and just enjoyed the beginning of the fête.

One of the paladins-in-training sat down in front of her and took off his helmet, leaning back so he could look up at her. "Hi Meggy."

"Hello Elothin."

"I heard you're going back to the battlefield after the fête. Want some company?"

"Sanra is coming with me. But you can come too if you bring some of your mother's tea candies."

He smiled and reached up to tweak her nose, making her laugh and slap his hand away. "I promise."

She played with his hair until he slapped her hand away then stood and pulled his helmet back on.

Sanra watched him go. "He's so cute!"

"And annoying," Meg added.

"You should walk out with him."

"He's fourteen!"

"You're only seventeen," Sanra reminded her.

Meg rolled her eyes.

xxxxx

On the last day of the fête Sanra, Meg, and all the other women of marriageable age were wearing scarves on their arms for the young men who were ready to ask a young woman to walk out to try and steal.

Sanra adjusted her scarves slightly. While she doubted any of the humans or half-elves of their community would be interested in her and she planned to go to a nearby gnome community in a couple years to learn more about her heritage, she had still tied it so that a slight tug on the end would cause it to come loose easily. Meg had hesitated then gave hers the same knot. She hoped no one tried but was sure they would. All the women of her mother's age called her the most beautiful young woman in the village and with her being the mayoress-to-be and of a family rich enough not to need a bride-price, she was sure there would be a few to go after the scarves on her arm.

"Who do you want to go after your scarves?" Sanra asked.

Meg grimaced. "No one. All the boys are like my brother. I mean, my brother died when we were little but I feel the same way about the boys around here I think. They're soldiers I want to fight side-by-side with, not start a family with."

Sanra shrugged. "I wouldn't mind walking out with Elothin, though, he's close to my height."

Meg raised an eyebrow then shrugged. "Shortstuff."

"Flat chested cow!" Sanra replied, faking anger.

Meg ruffled Sanra's intricately coiffed hair and Sanra slapped her hand away.

"Time," Meg's mother said, looking into her youngest's room. "You two look wonderful." She touched her daughter's intricate braided crown hairstyle and admired the little gold flowers woven in. "Very pretty little one."

Meg tried not to huff at being called little one still. She was taller than her mother.

They went out and joined in to the parade of other women heading to the dance.

Meg looked longingly towards the younger children playing the various games. She'd much rather be playing conkers, Auntie Sal, or studying the course for the Cheese Race.

"Are you doing the cheese race?" she asked Sanra.

"No." Her height was actually beneficial in a downhill race due to her lower center of gravity but she hated the smell of the cheese used. "Are you?"

"Definitely." Meg loved it.

In the center of the town Sanra went to get both of them some wine while Meg chatted with some of the other women. The boys were working up their courage to ask a girl to dance or wending their way through the groups, being manhandled by the girls that didn't want them to try for their scarves.

One of the youngest boys made his way stealthily up behind Megan and only his reflection in Sanra's circlet let Megan move away before he could snatch a scarf from her arm. "Anros, you're only twelve!"

"They bet me I couldn't steal yours." His 'friends' were always egging him on in ways that usually got him injured and interfered with his paladin training.

"What did they bet you?"

"Two silver each."

"Did they have the money?"

"They even let Montro hold it cuz he's trustworthy," the boy said, somewhat sullenly. His family wasn't the best off and eight pieces of silver was a fairly large amount of money. She doubted he had been able to save up more than fifteen coppers for the fête.

"I'm going to turn away from you now, run along."

He looked surprised at that then realized what she meant. When she did turn away he grabbed a scarf and ran. She called him a name and picked up a pebble then pegged him with it on the back of the head to the laughter of those nearby who had heard the conversation.

By the end of the evening two more of the young men had worked up the courage to try for her scarves.

At the dance portion afterwards, she danced with the three who had taken her scarves then as dusk began to fall lined up with the others who were racing for the cheese after changing out of her dress into a pair of leather leggings and a tight tunic.

She looked down the hill. It was the steepest in the village and had once done duty as a garrison and a watchtower before real ones had been built and before the stone fortifications that surrounded Meg's Woods. Now it was where village potlucks were held due to the view of the valley on one side and the village on the other and buried deep underground was long term storage of ice for use during the summer.

Her father walked up holding the nine pound wheel of cheese and looked along the line of men and women lined up, ready to run with dozens of clerics at the bottom ready to deal with the many, many broken bones and greater injuries the race caused each year.

Her father walked the line then pointed at a twelve year old. "Out Hamish. You can run next year."

He pouted but left the lineup to the laughter of his friends who had told him he wasn't going to be allowed.

"Line up!"

They all lined up and looked down the quite steep half-mile long incline. Then the mayor let the wheel of cheese go with an underhand curve.

It hit the edge of the incline and bounced high then hit the ground and began picking up speed.

Meg and the others took off, running as fast as they could while still keeping control of themselves.

An older male started to get ahead but his momentum overtook his speed control and he went down, rolling off to the side.

Meg kept her stability and was only a few feet away when a woman made a leap and caught the wheel at the end of the incline, rolling down the hill. She stood up, her nose dripping blood as everyone cheered for her.

Meg was untying her dress and shaking the dust out fo it when the winner came up to her, holding out a large wedge of the cheese. "Here, Meggy. I know you really like the cheese."

"Thanks Karin."

The younger woman asked Meg for her recipe for melted cheese and Meg took the quill and inkpot from her small bag and wrote it down for her. "And make sure you use applewood for the fire, otherwise the cheese mixture won't take on the right scent."

"Thank you Meggy!"

She dashed off still holding the cheese then ran back, her face bright red and sheepishly said, "Here," then dashed back to rejoin her family and her intended's family.

Meg chuckled and carried the cheese with her as she rejoined her's and Sanra's family. Her mother took the cheese and handed it to one of their servants—they had all been given the day off but Darya had volunteered to work since her husband had pulled guard duty—and she put the cheese in the basket with their dinner.

xxxxx

When it began to get dark the wizard who lived in the great tower nearby cast the spell he was hired to perform every year.

A two hundred foot dragon appeared and began to flame the village's many bonfires. As it flew above the village, the various bonfires began to light the sky, each burning in a different color until the village was fully lit by the bonfires and the musicians began playing.

The dragon faded away as the last part of the fête began in earnest, the field filled with families eating their picnic dinners and watching the fireworks the wizard made.


	21. Chapter 21

Anrier slid off his horse and fell backwards into the thickly piled boughs. "Ahhh," he murmured softly.

"Iron, wake me when the sun reaches the top of the sky." He pulled a bough over his head and was quickly asleep.

His Iron Defender, horse, and his trunk circled where he lay, scaring off the occasional animal that got too close.

When the sun reached the top of the sky, the Iron Defender awoke him by grabbing his leg and shaking it.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" he called out then extricated his trouser's from the construct's sharp teeth.

Anrier made his last bit of meat and some bread into a sandwich then drained the last of his water from his skin. He pulled himself up on his horse and pulled his shirt off. It was very hot, even for him.

Nearing the village, two paladins on horseback rode past, nodding to him as they followed a pack of hounds sniffing along a trail.

Anrier thought about asking to join them since he missed a good hound hunt but continued on towards the village.

As he got close enough, he saw the ghouls in the pen and wondered about that.

A pair of paladins rode out towards him.

"You the artificer?" one called out as he got close enough to hear.

"Aye."

"Follow us then, lad. The mayor's out on a ride with his falcon."

They admired his constructs on the ride and he asked about their defense needs.

"What's with the ghouls?" he asked after absorbing the minimal information they gave.

"Our order fought here long ago. We won but were badly depleted. Our last few remaining paladins decided to rebuild here, retaking the land lost to darkness. We're in a standing battle. No matter what we do, the darkness here stands fast. The ghouls appear. They're not our dead. We burn our dead. We check the grounds constantly for unmarked graves. They keep coming back. So we use them for training. One of our first rites of passage is killing a ghoul."

Anrier nodded. His family's rite of passage had him kill a dire elk with a spear. Then his grandfather had painted Anrier's face with the blood and Anrier had bitten into the elk's still beating heart to the laughter of everyone. He then found out no one actually did that.

He sulked a bit but ate the liver after his grandfather took a bite of it.

"There he is," one of the paladins said.

Anrier saw a blur of movement then the scream of a rabbit as it was caught by a falcon.

"Mayor," one of the paladins said. "This is Anrier, the artificer."

"Welcome, lad," the barrel chested man said as he took the rabbit from the falcon and laid it with the others on his saddle. "You're a few days early or I'd have met you at the airship myself."

"Good winds," Anrier told him. "I've had a bit of a look at the area, your issues with darkness, and the way you've got your defenses setup and I've got a few ideas."

"Good, good. Go on and lead him back to town. We've got a workshop setup for you and you can finish touring the village and the abbey and monastery."

Anrier pinned the design up on the wall and turned when he heard his door open. The mayor, his wife, and the head of the paladins entered the office. He nodded to them. "Good timing. I just finished the designs and the costing."

"Good, then we'll have lunch first. After we eat, we can start arranging for anything you need delivered."

Anrier pulled on his greatcoat and followed them out of the office. His Iron Defender stood, ready to follow him but Anrier waved the beast off. It spun around three times then settled in like a real dog.

"Aside from the armor plating, it acts like a real dog," Big Meg said.

"When I was creating him I thought about everything my dogs did when I was young."

"So it humps legs?" the mayor said, laughing.

"No, Dogs only do that to people they know are submissive to them," Anrier told him.

Everyone began laughing when the mayor realized what that meant. He began laughing himself and thumped Anrier on the back, knocking the younger half-elf forward.

After the meal was through, Anrier led them around the city, village, showing them how he planned to outfit their gates with magazine fed ballistae, holy fire wands, catapults launching glass cylinders of holy water, and spikes in the walkways that would extend upwards at the speed of bow shot when dark creatures were detected.

"I can also setup wands that can fire various spells used by your people. It's a bit more expensive."

"We'll put together a committee," Big Meg said. "Figure out what spells to use. What do we need to start ordering in?"

Anrier pulled a roll of parchment from his greatcoat and handed it over, using the submissive stance of open palms with the roll laying atop them. He had found they were more accepting of the massive costs if he acted submissively.

She looked at it and raised an eyebrow. Her husband took it and looked it over. "Looks fair. Let's get you together with my eldest and her husband, they're in charge of the tradings."

Big Meg led Anrier to her eldest's house then went home.

Anrier shook the man's hand and waited as he took out dozens of scrolls and began collating what they had in supplies versus what would need to be hewn, cut, or gathered and bought.

"The silverboll wood, does it need to be seasoned?"

"The greener the better actually," Anrier told him. "The sooner life has been in the wood the stronger the life in the construct."

"We'll send out a party for it then, saving our supplies for building. What about the stone?"

"Any will do but the lighter the color the better."

"Most of our stock is white. Our quarry is limestone. It can be pretty easily shaped and bored using our most common crop."

"Most common crop?"

"Limes," he said, smirking. "We export about sixty thousand tons of preserved limes a year."

Limes and limestone," Anrier said, nodding. "Works for me."

They spent the next hour working out timetables for raw component harvesting and preparing orders for materials from other villages they traded with then Anrier went back to his workshop and settled on to the mattress.

When Anrier awoke the next morning, he found a large breakfast waiting for him on his worktable. He settled in to eat, making a list of what to begin work on, what he could safely delegate to the local craftsmen, what he had to do himself, then how much time it was going to take to complete each piece, then the list of startup items.

He turned to his chest and snapped his fingers. "Forge."

It opened and revealed a stack of components and his tools for working a forge. Anrier began pulling them out. "We've gotta build a forge here."

The chest shivered in what seemed like excitement to Anrier.

When he stepped out the back door, he found someone had stacked up the various items he would need to build a forge.

"Nice. Let's get started."

His luggage began flattening down the ground and he sang a work ditty oriented towards the harvest, one he remembered singing with his family when they helped with the harvests back home. The luggage followed the music's rhythm, dance moves leaking into its movement.

Anrier clapped along until the luggage was done then began placing the bottom layer of stones.

By the time the afternoon bells began to toll he had a three foot tall, fifteen by fifteen foot base for his forge completed. He maneuvered the sheet of cold iron out of his luggage and got it in place then shoved the nine pins down the blocks, holding them and the cold iron grate in place. He decided to build up two more layers of bricks then began heaping dirt up around the stone. Anrier placed the bellows pump on the ground and covered it with its protective box then went inside and found his lunch delivered again and the plates for his breakfast gone. He wrote thank you on a scrap of parchment then ate his lunch before heading back to the forge to finish it.

He built a stand of logs and used a chain to pull his anvil out of his luggage. It shook itself, seeming to be glad to be rid of the weight.

"Blood hunt is next," he said to himself. He had thought about bringing blood but magic imbued blood didn't travel well and the paladins had forests full of demonic creatures.

He maneuvered the anvil onto a thick stump then pulled out a square edge. He was somewhat shocked to find the anvil and stump were perfectly level then saw just how much work had been done to make it so before he had even arrived. It wasn't ground on which the stump sat but a thin layer of dirt on top of a layer of bricks.

With his area mostly set up, he began pulling out the bag of evercoals he had made for this trip alone. If he found someone worthy of becoming an artificer here, he'd leave the coals for him to work with when he returned from training as an artificer.

Anrier dumped them into the forge and began mixing the cement to hold the bricks in place. He troweled it into place and made sure the box holding his bellows was cemented into place as well.

He left it to cure with the evercoals lit and went for a walk through the village, chatting with the various craftsmen he came across, surprised to find all were also trained as paladins or clerics and in a battle could field over 9000 paladins, nearly 4000 clerics, and 6000-some warriors from surrounding villages with 500 battlemages trained by the nearby wizard. His own home village could field 25,000 barbarians and another 10,000 skalds and he wondered how they would fair in battle against these people, though an alliance was more likely than a battle since both were allied to the Imperials.

He went to get his horse and decided to take a ride out among the woods and see if he could find any creatures.


	22. Chapter 22

Meg thanked Elothin for the big box of tea candies and cakes. "Sorry you have to work," she told him.

He shrugged. "The new grandmaster selected me for some special training. Where's Sanra?"

"She's gonna be here in a few minutes. She stopped by Kein's to see his new settings."

He nodded and pulled his reins to the right. "Later Meggy."

She watched him go, sneaking a mint and orange tea candy before Sanra arrived.

Sanra rode up a few minutes later, admiring three rings on her finger.

"Look," she said, holding her hand out to Meg.

"Gorgeous," she said, holding her friend's hand so she could see the rings better. "This one with the orange gem reminds me of dad for some reason."

Sanra stripped it off immediately. "Here."

"I-"

Sanra glared at her. "Just take it. Kein wants me to give them away."

"I know, I was just going to say I have no pockets in my armor and it won't fit under my gauntlets until I modify them."

Sanra tucked it into the pocket of her own armor looking sheepish.

Sanra took the candies from her friend and opened the box. "Ooh, I call all the orange and mint candies!"

Meg grinned. "Okay."

She kicked her pony to speed and turned Curbstomp towards the forest.

Sanra urged her own pony forward and caught up to Meg.

"Did you bring everything?" she asked.

Meg nodded. "Keira and Deio," Meg's sister and her husband, "went to the site two days ago and reported it's the same as you described it when you found me."

Sanra nodded and started singing a song as they rode along and soon Meg joined in.


	23. Chapter 23

Niela checked the map again then tucked it unto her robes and took the next path. She scratched her horse's neck and watched the trees.

She had come across a handful of paladins and clerics and all had been incredibly polite, even the two that recognized her as a warlock. They had invited her to come visit them at Meg's Woods if she needed somewhere to stay while in the area and had marked a handful of very dangerous sites on her map for her, including her target and told her that the area had recently been cleared but dangerous creatures could have moved back in since then.

She found the tracks to the old battlefield and brought her horse to a stop. Niela hesitated about bringing the horse. If the paladins had told the truth it would be safe to bring him but if they hadn't, placing the horse in a ring of witchfire would be safer. She decided to trust them and urged her horse forward.

Niela slid off the horse when they were on the ancient battlefield and she patted the neck of it then wrapped the reins around a branch. Her wand slipped out of the sleeve robe and she studied the battlefield, surprised to see bodies laid out. She moved over to look at them and realized they were four dragonborn and a decapitated mind flayer. Since they were all nude, Niela pointed her wand at them and cast fiery bolt on the bodies. No matter who they were, they deserved something better than rotting on an ancient battlefield. Once they were crisped to dust, she set to digging a hole.

Once she had buried the dust and engraved a peacekeeper mark on the tree in front of where their dust was buried, she set to searching for the entrance to the ancient temple she had been assured was here.

She found it after an hour of searching. The doors were covered in moss and vines but had been left open a crack and the smell of rotting food began to make itself known over the scent of the forest.

She held her wand loosely as she stuck a log in between the doors and wedged it open farther, wondering how they got in and out if it was this difficult to open.

xxxxx

Sanra savored the last of the orange and mint candies then realized they were passing the path to the battlefield. "Wasn't that our turn?"

"There's another path in, I want to go that way. This way is littered with gravegrass."

"Gravegra—oooh. Understandable. Do you want one of the raspberry and lime clusters?"

"Yes!"

Meg took the proffered candy and savored the candied lime held together by honey, raspberry, ginger, and bread crumbs boiled together.

When the ponies found the path Meg wanted, she slowed Curbstomp's pace and drew the sword on the armor. She used it to cut the limbs that impeded their movement through the trees, fighting not to laugh at Sanra's curses at the few branches she didn't cut that dragged at the gnome.

Once they were through the overgrown area, Sanra asked, "What did you do with all that armor and weapons and stuff you brought back?"

"Most of it was melted down or disassembled to be reused. The money and gems are mine to keep though. I ended up with about eleven hundred gold in total and a dozen weapons that have a nice value I can resell. Some of the other paladins have made offers on a few pieces. Actually, one I thought you might like."

"Which one?"

"It's an old wooden training zweihander. The clerics that looked them over said it's so magic soaked it would be useful for enhancing cast spells."

Sanra tried to remember which weapon it might have been when she brought her friend back.

"Look!" she said instead, pointing at the horse tied up across the field, eating from a feedbag.

Meg slid off her pony, drawing her hammer as Sanra slid off and grabbed Curbstomp's reins. She lashed them both to a branch then drew her own dagger.

Meg scanned the field then headed towards the altar the temple behind it and saw the massive ceremonial doors were open.

xxxxx

Niela had cased the top floor of the temple and was on the next sublevel, checking everywhere for the book.

She had found a half-dozen books that she knew she could sell and one Manual of the Outer Planes, naming a handful of the upper beings she had plans to learn the names of and contact.

She heard a noise and turned a corner exiting a room to find a human in glistening white armor and a gnome in a multihued blue robe with blue and silver filigree.

"Who are you?" the paladin called out.

"Who are you?!" Niela asked at the same time.

Sanra looked back and forth between the two then laughed. "I'm Sanra, this is Meg. We're from the local village, making sure the beasts here are gone for good. What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to retrieve a text that belongs to my order."

"Have you found it?" Sanra asked.

xxxxx

Meg was glad she had her helmet on. She could feel heat in her cheeks, her stomach felt like she had butterflies racing each other in it, her palms were sweating, her knees felt weak, and she felt like looking into the eladrin's greenish eyes would have her falling forever.

Meg could smell the magic on the woman, she could tell she was a warlock but didn't feel as if she should attack her so she lowered her hammer to the ground and used it as a brace. What is wrong with me, she asked herself.

"Not yet," the eladrin told them. "Why are you here?"

"She cleaned out the forests around this area for her Humbling. She didn't get the chance to come in here though. Want our help searching for it? Oh, are you bleeding?"

The eladrin looked down at her arm and shrugged. "It's fine."

"Let me," Sanra said and handed Meg her knife then walked towards the woman, calling the healing power into her hand.

The eladrin hesitated but let the gnome touch her arm to facilitate the healing. "Leaving your wounds open allow foul humours to invade," Sanra said, sounding somewhat like her teacher.

"What's your name?" Sanra asked as she checked her forearm.

"Niela. Niela Startripper."

"She's Megani Ogrecrusher and I'm Sanra Tealeaf. We're from Meg's Woods. Not named after her, she's named after the Meg our village was named after."

Meg rolled her eyes. "What book are you looking for?"

Niela hesitated then said the name, unsure why she did. "Eldritch Husbandry."

Sanra raised an eyebrow then a giggle escaped her. "Really?"

"It means raising, not-"

"We know," Sanra interrupted. "We live in a farming community. It's still giggle worthy."

Meg picked up her hammer. "Let's continue on. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can head back."

Sanra held out the box of candy. "Want one? The purple ones are the best, lavender and mint flavored."

Niela took one and put it in her mouth then breathed in sharply at the flavor. It was strong but mellow at the same time, chilling her mouth. "Delicious."

Sanra nodded and began chattering about Meg's Humbling.

Niela listened, making sure she walked always at the side of the gnome while Meg walked ahead of them.

Meg tried to analyse what was happening to her and could only think of what had happened the night she met the son of the Ada ambassador on their trip around the Empire when she was nine. He had been so pretty, much like a girl, with fine bone structure, long hair, and pouting lips. The son had been very polite to her when he spoke to her but since she was a fifth his age, he had ignored her once the introductions were over.

Meg bit her lip, remembering how she had mooned around for days afterwards.

xxxxx

Niela kept both of them in the corner of her eye as they searched the room.

It was nearing dinner time as evidenced by both her own growling stomach and the gnome's when the gnome dashed to the left and held up a book in triumph. "Is this it?!"

Niela looked at it as the gnome held it out to her. "Yes."

Sanra bowed as she presented it to the eladrin. "Here. I hope it serves you well."

"We've finished our own search," Meg said, still glad her helmet was on. She could feel her cheeks on fire. "Why don't you come back home with us? You can get a nice meal and some sleep-"

"Eladrin don't sleep," Sanra reminded her friend. "They go into a trance. It's really interesting."

"Same difference," Meg said. "or you can leave right away if you wish."

"Come for dinner," Sanra pleaded. "I've always wanted to know more about warlocks. We had one in the village for a few days when I was younger but he finished the trade agreement and left before I could ask anything."

"Trade?" Niela asked.

"His coven needed limestone to build a temple," Meg answered. "We supplied over seven tons of stone for them. I think. Maybe it was seventeen? Father would know."

"Definitely come," Sanra said. "Her parents are serving threscher stew tonight!" She assumed that would entice anyone and it worked. Threscher stew was very much a delicacy.

Even if it's mock-threscher stew, it would be quite welcome, thought Niela. She nodded.

They finished checking out the building and looked at the pile of items they had acquired. "Take what you need," Meg told the eladrin. "I've made a significant amount of gold out of this place as it is."

She picked up a handful of the books and a dagger and tucked them into her bag then Sanra and Meg led the way out of the temple.

On their horses, Sanra peppered Niela with questions about warlocks and how she had acquired her power and what it was like talking to the gods personally.

Niela decided to tell her about the young god she'd spoken with who had only wanted a freshly made stew. After she had told them about it, Sanra asked for the recipe.

xxxxx

Meg's father took her helmet from her after she slid off her horse. "Father, this is Niela. She was exploring the temple to find a book that belonged to her order."

He looked her over and nodded. "Welcome to Meg's Woods. Did you find what you were looking for?"

She nodded. "Good," he told her. "We're having threscher stew tonight, stay. You can get started on the road after or tomorrow morning."

As they walked to the mayor's house, Sanra went to tell her parents she was eating with Meg's family.

When she returned, she saw all of the Ogrecrusher daughters were at the dining table with their husbands, Niela sitting in the place of honor. Sanra sat down between Niela and Meg and turned to see two servants bringing out the five gallon tureen shaped like a dozen different kinds of squash grown together. "I love that tureen," Mila said.

"Mori already called it," Big Meg said. Mori stuck her tongue out at her sister who glared at her while the other sisters and husbands laughed.

Meg's father introduced Niela to them then named names of his daughters and sons-in-law then began ladling the stew into bowls and began passing them down the table, alternating sides until all had the meal.

As they ate, Niela mostly listened to the family talking, discussing the day's events and the work they had done in the fields or at their duties then Meg's father asked, "You're a star pact warlock?"

She looked up from her bowl and nodded hesitantly. "Yes."

"Do you only gain knowledge that way or do you study lore as well?" Sanra asked after Niela explained what it was after one of the husbands asked.

"Most of my knowledge comes from lore. I try not to take the shortcuts but I've had to a few times."

Most at the table nodded sagely. All of the paladins knew the folly of shortcuts. One in nine failed their humbling and died because of taking too many shortcuts.

After the meal, Sanra kept asking Niela about being a warlock while Meg went to her room and put her armor back up on its rack then placed her hammer and sword on their stands. She pulled off her dress and fell back onto her bed, wondering what was going on when ever she looked at the eladrin.

Her smile is incredible. Her lips are so soft looking. That blonde hair looks like waves cascading down her back. And that figure, she thought to herself. I wish I had hips and breasts like those.

Then Meg thought of the woman bathing with her and the thought of the eladrin nude before her did things that had never happened when thinking about boys and men who found her attractive.


	24. Chapter 24

M'Karo stretched languidly then appraised the human she had seduced. He slept soundly after having passed out mid-coitus due to her drugged lipstick. She sighed. She had hoped he would have gotten her to at least one but it hadn't happened. She stood and began dressing, pulling her stolen gown back on then began fixing her makeup. She wiped off the lipstick and redid it with the clean wax and ground amber in her father's old sporran she liked to use as a purse.

Ready to leave, she stole his purse then began packing his furnishings of worth into the knit bag she had pulled out of her sporran.

She found what she had been sent to find and tucked the small painting into her bag along with a pair of statuettes bracing it then walked out the door.

A waiting horse was held by another padfoot and she pulled herself up then tossed the bag to him. He slid it into his saddlebag and asked, "You get everything?"

"Yes."

"Exquisite. Like you. Let's catch the next ship out of here."

When they reached the port village, they sold the stolen horses and their tack to the innkeeper then paid for passage to the most southernmost village along the coast.

In their room on the ship, he watched her change. "Can that be done to my armor even though I've had it for years?" he asked as her armor shifted to a dark green.

"I think so."

"Maybe I'll have it done with my cut."

He took the painting out and admired its strokes. "He painted this his last year. Normally, he'd finish a painting like this in a week. With his failing eyesight, he could only paint when the sun was at a certain angle: he could only work for about forty minutes a day."

She moved to look at it. "Very pretty. I prefer gems though."

"Uncultured swine," he teased her.

She recited the soliloquy of Maria Antonia after her participation in the brutal murder Julia Caesaris.

He rolled his eyes and put the painting back then checked the rest of the loot. "Beautiful statuettes. These might be worth more than the painting if they're original." He checked the bottom of them and shrugged. "Not sure with this artist. The fences will know."

She told him to put them back and said, "Time."

He put the bag in a oiled leather case and sealed it with wax then they slipped out of the porthole and dropped into the water. A short swim had them at the southern lighthouse that marked the entrance to the cove. A pair of horses were waiting for them and a poar of large shellbowls of thick stew made by the lighthouse keeper, a retired Blackguard Coastal Raider.

He hugged M'Karo as she said, "Hi Uncle!"

"Hey little one. You're all grown up now!" he said, surprised.

"It's been nearly ten years," she reminded him.

"Sit," he told them then set the thick tomato and fish stew up for them. "Eat, eat! I'll stoke the fire."

The two padfoots used some blankets to dry their armor somewhat then set to eating as the keeper looked at their loot. "Ooh, original Montresors. Such detailed work. They look as if they were truly immured alive."

"What're they worth?" M'Karo asked.

"Easily five hundred gold for both, maybe more if they're the earlier representations of this statuette. Not sure which is which though. A collector would know."

Once they were dry and full, he handed over two skins filled with spiced wine, another with more of the stew, and a bag full of other staples and waved as they rode off.

He walked back inside.

xxxxx

M'Karo took a long drink of the wine then turned her head to look at the moons. Normally Little Sister wasn't visible but tonight was one of its rare times where it wasn't behind Big Brother. Her bright red orb covered a small portion of the blue-white larger moon and she wondered again if there were really people living on the moon, living their lives just as she lived hers.

I hope so, she thought then used the ends of her reins to whip her horse to a quicker speed.

The other padfoot did the same to catch up, understanding her excitement to return home. The Princess of Thieves as she was called, mostly behind her back, was to be promoted when she returned, from padfoot to Wishtblade, a fairly rare rank in the Blackguards because they didn't often tolerate murders during the crimes: Wishtblades were assassins as much as thieves.

"Anko."

He brought his horse alongside hers. "Yes?"

"Do you have any of those candies left?"

"The chocolate? No, I gave you the last of it yesterday. I still have some of the aniseeds though."

He took out a handful of them and held them out to her. She thanked him and unfolded the paper around one then popped it in her mouth, savoring the burst of the flavor and the medical alleviating abilities the spice had.

M'Karo rubbed her stomach.

After a few more miles were put behind them, Anko pulled alongside her again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." She wondered why he was so formal with her lately since they had played together as children, training as thieves side-by-side.

"I met this girl. But she's a member of the Lightfoot clan."

She smiled. "You met someone? Is she pretty?"

"Very pretty. Dark eyes with flecks of gold, long chocolatey hair, very full lips, and an incredible figure. She's the youngest daughter of their grandmaster."

"I bet grandfather would be willing to talk to him on your behalf. Anything to help cement the alliance since the boy I'm supposed to marry is still only ten, eleven, something like that."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"What's her name?"

"Zona."

She repeated it and nodded. "Pretty name. Wonder what it means?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. What does your name mean?"

"Victorious, I think."

He nodded. "Fitting."

"She live in the city you work?"

He nodded again. "Her father runs their clanhold there."


	25. Chapter 25

Anrier studied the beast held by the two paladins that had ridden out to hunt with him. He nodded and placed a collar around its neck then connected a muzzle to it. "I think five beasts is enough for today."

The collar and muzzle forced the creature to heel and follow commands and it meekly followed them back to where four more dark beasts were staked to a tree. They roped them all together then rode back to town, the two paladins with him waving at a paladin and cleric riding with a fey looking woman some distance away.

"Was that the Mayor's daughter?" Anrier asked.

"Aye."

"Pretty lass."

"Very," one of the paladins said. "She isn't walking out with anyone if you want to give it a try."

Anrier shrugged. "My mother will outlive my father by two hundred years easily. I'll outlive most humans by at least a century as well. If I mate, it'll be with a fey I think."

They nodded thoughtfully. Each knew they could easily leave their own wives widowed young.

Back at the village, they helped him build temporary pens around the beasts. "What next?" one asked.

"I'll make a knife expressly for bleeding them out, hang them, then use the knife to cut into their necks and insert tubules for directing the blood into a specialized tempering trough."

"Sounds ghastly."

"Sadly, it's needed to properly enhance the constructs. It can be done without but they don't last as long nor as effective."

The paladins made their goodbyes as he began setting out the materials he would need. An old broken sword would be his base for the knife, he decided.

Stripping down to just his trousers and boots, he began working the bellows with his foot as he disassembled the sword so he had just the blade. He admired the tang when he saw it. Whoever had made the sword had twisted multiple times and flatted it, giving it a beautiful screw like design. Anrier decided to use the tang as the handle and placed the broken blade in the fire then set a rod into the fire as well.

As they heated, he poured a gallon of leviathan oil into his quenching pan and turned back to the forge.

When the metals were hot enough, he pulled the blade out and scraped it down then poured flux on it and scraped it down again. It went back into the fire and he took out the rod then began hammering it flat on the hot end and scraping it down.

Anrier repeated the process a dozen times as children from the village began to arrive to watch him through the fence. He mostly ignored them since they weren't distracting him and soon he began pounding the tang and the rod together. Fifteen reheats and hammerings soon had the two items forge-welded together and he could begin reshaping the blade and tang itself.

Within a few minutes, most of the children had been runoff to go home and now all that were left were the curious adults of the village who had no hurry to return to their homes.

He began carefully twisting the tang, following its original twists but not hammering it down.

Within the hour, he had the new handle done, a twisted shape just long enough to be held in one hand, and the blade reshaped into a diamond shaped stabbing device.

Anrier placed it in the leviathan oil and moved away from the smell of the smoke as it quenched in the rendered fat.

He walked over to the few adults remaining and introduced himself to those he hadn't met yet then answered the questions he received.


End file.
